AROHA

Timber Panel by Justin Kite (Ngati Kahungunu)

Dimensions: 290 x 1940 mm

New works on plywood are combine, mixed media works with subject matter and narrative inspired by pop culture such as games, music lyrics and media. I also like to explore visual conventions such as scale, contrast and movement. I try to capture melodrama, with the figurative and the abstract. I often integrate my Maori culture and every work is a self-portrait. I hope that the viewers appreciate my art, whether it is aesthetically or on a deeper level.

I have taught Visual Art and Design in New Zealand and Shanghai, China for 14 years. Living and working in a range of different countries has been a major stimulus in my art-making process. I enjoy playing with the relationships and visual hierarchy of silhouettes and internal narratives to achieve contradictions and surreal worlds. Taking observations of diversity and everyday situations. I play with the multi-layers of societal contexts, attempting to highlight the complexities and randomness of post-modern life.

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time”.