Culture

The Hocken Gallery, Cnr Anzac Ave & Parry Street

Ralph Hotere is New Zealand’s most revered living painter. Zero to Infinity consists of fifty works and incorporates a broad range of Hotere’s paintings from his celebrated milestones, to his political works to his lesser-known pieces. The exhibition was designed to celebrate Hotere’s upcoming 80th birthday on August 11th, as well as capturing his extensive use of the written word and his collaborations with poets such as Bill Mahire. The title ‘Zero’ refers directly to his Zero series (1966-7) and Infinity refers directly to the recurring infinity motif evident in his work from as recently as 2005. These motifs dually refer to both nothing and eternity and are shown by Hotere’s repetitive use of the colour black, the circle and the window frame.
 
Ominous and tender, Port Chalmers Painting no. 9 (1972) is a two-tone minimalist black work, which features a foreboding ‘O’ and is reminiscent of the work of American colour field painter Barnett Newton. Whilst minimalism sometimes can seem dull and fail to capture an intensity of feeling, Port Chalmers Painting no. 9 is surprisingly fascinating, highly emotive and beautiful. The title and conception of the work refers to Hotere’s love for his former residence in Port Chambers.
 
Much of Hotere’s work deals with contemporary social and political situations, including the exploitation of the natural environment, Maori land rights and the futility of war. While still referring to Port Chalmers, yet in a more political context, Black Window Port Chalmers (1982) expresses anger over the proposed aluminium smelter at Aramoana. It is a work which is very political, yet is anchored in emotion. It is as though Hotere is looking out only to be engulfed by his internal frustration. This is evident by the rough bold texture, the explosive displacement of paint, roughly drawn calendar and stencilled text.
 
Drawing of a black window (1981) is a cross section of a window within a destabilised world. It features coarse brushstrokes, as though it has been heavily vandalised, with the appearance of rust emerging amongst shards of light.
 
Much of Hotere’s work involves religious symbolism, as he extensively features crucifixes in his works, such as Le Pape Est Morte (1976), Cruciform II (1968) and A return to Sangro (1978). Black Window (1988-90) is an extremely tactile work, featuring religious iconography. Le Pape Est Morte literally translates to ‘the pope is dead’ and was inspired by a newspaper headline announcing the deaths of two modern popes, while Hotere was in France.
 
Much of the works highlight the intimate collaboratory friendship Hotere has with poet Bill Mahine. Your Absence is a hurt I would bring to no one (2005) expresses a simple frankness, which is engulfed by dark hues and accentuates an emotional rawness. Other collaborative projects such as Designs for programme and poster for anatomy of dance (1975) tentatively show Hotere’s ability to capture a dichotomy between a dispersive and yet structured style of painting.
 
Ralph Hotere’s Zero to Infinity is on at Hocken gallery until the 1st of October.