A visit to Pataka
Parautanga Plough, circa 2005 – perhaps Taepa’s referencing of a change in horticultural methods – appears as a Brancusi column let loose, even tilting strongly off vertical.
Taepa’s works are big and brave, and in days where now often technology has neatened and refined our contemporary palette, these are made by hands with grit and mess and are all the freer and fresher.
James Ormsby’s exhibition is an investigation into his heritage – self-discovery and part proclamation about ancestors, predominately Maori and Scottish, depicted with sailing ships and waka.
His works use graphite and ink and rely on the skills of drawing with able draughtsmanship ability. Many use a layering of fine lines that at first seem to be ocean, but suggest generations of peoples creating a vast vista.
The scale, one truly massive work Genesis (Proto-psalteroa V), 2010, at 1.4 metres high, and a staggering five metres long, stretches across the end wall of the gallery becoming the star of the show.
Like a giant manuscript or medieval illustration made contemporary in unreadable text, it carries a sense of the weight of history.
Some of the works do feel a bit stiff, as though the gravitas and complexity has made it too serious a concern. But to work on a scale such as this is impressive with the simple tool of, predominately, a pencil.
Two exhibitions at Pa¯ taka, in Porirua are worth a trip out – ‘‘Retrospect’’, a selection of ceramics by Wi Taepa and ‘‘Wakapapa’’, huge graphite drawings by James Ormsby. Both exhibitions run over the summer, on until February 12.