John Hovell Floor Talk

Artist John Hovell and curator Damian Skinner will give a floor talk.

The Passing World, The Passage of Life: The Art of John Hovell

This exhibition celebrates the art of Māori artist John Hovell. Surveying a career that spans four decades, The Passing World, The Passage of Life showcases the work of an artist who has achieved success in two spheres of activity.

From the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, Hovell was part of the contemporary Māori art movement, exhibiting his paintings alongside artists such as Paratene Matchitt and Sandy Adsett, and taking part in the activities of organisations such as Ngā Puna Waihanga (the Māori Artists and Writers Society).

Since the mid-1980s Hovell has been working in customary contexts, designing and producing kōwhaiwhai and murals for marae projects in Auckland, the Coromandel peninsula and the East Coast. He has established a reputation as a kōwhaiwhai artist of note, working alongside tohunga whakairo (carving experts) such as Pakiriki Harrison.

Hovell’s art practice offers a series of important insights into the development of Māori art in the second half of the twentieth century, including the relationship between customary and contemporary Māori art, the connections between Māori and Pākehā art, and the ongoing development of customary arts such as kōwhaiwhai in the present.

Damian Skinner, curator

Event listed by tairawhitimuseum

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