Ralph Hotere | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Hotere in 2012 | |
| Born | Hone Papita Raukura Hotere (1931-08-11)11 August 1931 |
| Died | 24 February 2013(2013-02-24) (aged 81) |
| Education | Hato Petera College,Auckland Teachers' Training College, Dunedin School of Art, part ofKing Edward Technical College |
| Known for | Painting |
| Notable work | Black Phoenix,Jerusalem, Jerusalem,This might be a double cross jack |
| Spouses | |
| Awards | Order of New Zealand,honorary doctorate from theUniversity of Otago, Icon Award from theArts Foundation of New Zealand |
Hone Papita Raukura "Ralph"HotereONZ (11 August 1931 – 24 February 2013)[1] was aNew Zealand artist. He was born inMitimiti,Northland and is widely regarded as one of New Zealand's most important artists. In 1994 he was awarded anhonorary doctorate from theUniversity of Otago and in 2003 received an Icon Award from theArts Foundation of New Zealand.
In the2012 New Year Honours, Hotere was appointed to theOrder of New Zealand for services to New Zealand.[2][3]
Hotere was born inMitimiti, close to theHokianga Harbour in theNorthland Region, one of 15 children.[4] When Hotere was 9, his older brother Jack enlisted in the army. Jack was killed in action in Italy in 1943.
Hotere received his secondary education atHato Petera College, Auckland, where he studied from 1946 to 1949. After early art training at theAuckland Teachers' Training College under the tutelage ofJ. D. Charlton Edgar,[4] he moved toDunedin in 1952, where he studied at Dunedin School of Art, part ofKing Edward Technical College. During the later 1950s, he worked as a schools art advisor for the Education Department in theBay of Islands.
In 1961 Hotere gained a New Zealand Art Societies Fellowship and travelled to England where he studied at theCentral School of Art and Design in London. During 1962–1964 he studied in France and travelled around Europe, during which time he witnessed the development of thePop Art andOp Art movements.[citation needed] His travels took him, among other places, to the war cemetery in Italy where his brother was buried. This event, and the politics of Europe during the 1960s, had a profound effect on Hotere's work, notably in theSangro series of paintings.[5]
Hotere returned to New Zealand and exhibited inDunedin in 1965, and returned to the city in 1969 when he became the University of Otago'sFrances Hodgkins Fellow. At about that time he began to introduce literary elements to his work. He worked with poets such asHone Tuwhare andBill Manhire to produce several strong paintings, and produced other works specifically for the New Zealand literary journalLandfall. Hotere also worked in collaboration with other prominent artists, notablyBill Culbert.[4] Hotere moved to Carey's Bay inPort Chalmers in 1969, spending most of his life in the town.[5]
From the 1970s onward, Hotere was noted for his use of unusual tools and materials in creating his work, notably the use of power tools on corrugated iron and steel within the context of two-dimensional art.[citation needed]
From 1968,[4] Hotere began the series of works with which he is perhaps best known, theBlack Paintings. In these works, black is used almost exclusively. In some works, strips of colour are placed against stark black backgrounds in a style reminiscent ofBarnett Newman. In other black paintings, stark simple crosses appear in the gloom, black on black. Thoughminimalist, the works, as with those of most good abstractionists, have a redolent poetry of their own. The simple markings speak of transcendence, of religion, or peace.[citation needed]
The themes of the black paintings extended to later works, notably the colossalBlack Phoenix (1984–88), constructed out of the burnt remains of a fishing boat.[6] This major installation incorporates the prow of the boat flanked by burnt planks of wood. Other planks form a pathway leading the prow. Each plank has had a strip laid bare to reveal the natural wood underneath beneath. Several of the boards are inscribed with a traditional Māori proverb,Ka hinga atu he tete-kura haramai he tete-kura ("As one fern frond (person) dies - one is born to take its place").[6] A slight change has been made in the wording of the proverb, replacingharamai (transfer, pass over) toara mai (the path forward), possibly indicating the cleared pathway of bare wood in front of the boat's burnt prow. The work measures 5m by 13m by 5.5m.[6]
Politics were entwined in the subject matter of Hotere's art from an early stage. Hotere'sPolaris series was a response to the 1984 threat of nuclear warheads due to thePolaris programme.[5] WhenAramoana, a wetland near his Port Chalmers home, wasproposed as the site for an aluminium smelter, Hotere was vocal in his opposition, and produced theAramoana series of paintings.[5] Similarly, he produced series protesting against a controversialrugby tour by New Zealand ofapartheid-eraSouth Africa (Black Union Jack) in 1981, and thesinking of theGreenpeace flagshipRainbow Warrior (Black rainbow) in 1985. Later, his reactions to Middle East politics resulted in works such asJerusalem, Jerusalem andThis might be a double cross jack.[citation needed]
In 1992, Hotere transformed the RKS Gallery in Wellington with an exhibition utilising kilometres ofnumber 8 wire.[5]
Hotere's work was slowed by a stroke in 2001, but he continued to create and exhibit regularly until his death in February 2013.[7]
A documentary film of the artist's life and work,Hotere, was released by Paradise Films in 2001, in association withCreative New Zealand and theNew Zealand Film Commission.[8] Written and directed byMerata Mita, the documentary made its overseas debut at the 2002Sundance Film Festival.[9]
Hotere was ofMāori descent (Te Aupōuri andTe Rarawa).[6]
He married three times, with two of his wives also being artists. His second wife was artist and poetCilla McQueen, whom he married in 1973, and with whom he moved toCareys Bay nearPort Chalmers in 1974. The two separated amicably during the 1990s.[4] Hotere later marriedMary McFarlane, another notable artist, in February 2002.[10]
Hotere died on 24 February 2013, aged 81 and was survived by his daughter Andrea, three mokopuna (grandchildren) and also his third wife Mary.[7] He was buried atMitimiti.
Hotere's former studio was on land at the tip ofObservation Point, the large bluff overlooking the Port Chalmers container terminal. When the port's facilities were expanded, part of the bluff was removed, including the area of Hotere's studio (after strenuous objection from many of the town's residents). Part of the bluff close to the removed portion is now an award-winning sculpture garden, theHotere Garden Oputae, organised in 2005 by Hotere and featuring works by both him and by other noted New Zealand modern sculptors.[11] Other sculptors with work in the garden includeRussell Moses,Shona Rapira Davies, andChris Booth.[12]
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