The fine print
Tauranga Art Gallery director Alice Hutchison is delighted to announce a major upcoming exhibition touring from Te Papa’s national art collection with one of New Zealand’s leading art historical figures in painting, Tony Fomison (19391990).
The exhibition Tony Fomison: Lost in the Dark focuses on Fomison’s particularly dark, intense paintings — both personal and universal — produced during the early years of his career, from 1967 to 1975.
Te Papa exhibition curator Chelsea Nichols says that in the late 1960s, dark things began to emerge from Fomison’s paintings.
“Over these years Fomison painted outsiders, finding a weird beauty in the monsters, martyrs and deformed figures that live on the fringes of society. From a period of darkness in his own life, emerged these emotive and almost brutal paintings.
“The humanity of these grotesque works resonated profoundly with many — making him one of the most important New Zealand artists of his generation.”
The period of 1970-76 was a particularly troubled time in Fomison’s life. He had just returned to Christchurch from travels in Europe with an Arts Council grant and was broke, grappling with addiction, and cynical about European society.
“Fomison followed his own path within contemporary art,
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Tony Fomison: Lost in the Dark / E ngaro ana i te Po¯ uri
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First developed as a collaboration between Wellington High School students and Te Papa
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Developed and Toured by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
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Opens at Tauranga Art Gallery on August 29
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Runs through to November 22
his work marked with a visionary power derived from his unconditional individualism. Although he adopted the position of an outsider, he also acquired a complex identity — he identified with more than one culture — despite the difficult negotiations this required.”
Fomison studied with Rudi Gopas at Ilam School of Art in Christchurch and developed an interest in archaeology and was commissioned by NZ Historic Places Trust to record ancient South Island rock drawings and later documented the Ma¯ ori rock art in the Volcanic Plateau.
The chaotic period in London enabled travel to the major European galleries to study painting techniques. Fomison developed an idiosyncratic chiaroscuro — painting of tonalities adapted into a unique visual style drawn from his imaginings.
Consciously rejecting Palagi European culture upon returning to New Zealand, he immersed himself into the Polynesian community of Auckland, being welcomed into community life often denied Europeans (receiving a Samoan Pe’a ceremonial tattoo). “The vibrant Polynesian community of Ponsonby Auckland welcomed Fomison, and the artistic milieu of the neighbourhood included Allen Maddox, Philip Clairmont, Philippa Blair, Mark Adams and numerous writers, artists and activists. Tony Fomison lived across from us at No 17. He was a kind, quirky, loquacious neighbour,” remembers Alice Hutchison who grew up with Fomison and these artists.
Lost in the Dark conveys the strength and pathos of Fomison’s character studies including a patient from Sunnyside hospital from a photograph by Mark Adams, and Christ as saviour Salvator Mundi.
The exhibition includes well-known and less familiar works painted by Fomison, as well as never-before-seen video footage of the artist at work, and spaces for people to respond in conversation with the teens from Wellington High School who worked on the show. Students workshopped the theme of ‘otherness’ in Fomison’s work, which helped shape the creative approach.