Raised amongst the traditions of painted meeting houses on the east coast of New Zealand, Sandy Adsett’s artistry and teachings can be found in marae, churches, art museums, and government buildings across the country. The painting Waipuna (1978), which translates as “spring”, comes from a period when Adsett created his most elaborate arrangements of kōwhaiwhai, typically on square board. Here the spatial composition orientates around a central axis and breaks the painted frame to create energy and the feeling of water currents. For Adsett, the break with the border is an important detail that focuses our attention on the role of negative space crucial to understanding kōwhaiwhai. The lavish forms of patterning, which might otherwise be interpreted as geometric abstraction, function within Māori genealogical traditions as a record of history, place, and whakapapa. It is at once visual communication, treasured knowledge, and painterly prowess. Adsett’s profound understanding of kōwhaiwhai has been explored by him in the architectural space of the meeting house and on painted boards. This art form has been developed over time through the important roles he has had in restoring and painting houses.
This is the first time the work of Sandy Adsett is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Natasha Conland
