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City Gallery
30 May - 22 Aug 2004 |
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Curatorial
Statement
| Artist's
Résumé
Wayne Youle's art is characterised by a cheekiness and a playful investigation
of some of the tougher issues concerning New Zealand's identity. The representation
of Maori art throughout history and in contemporary art and culture is a central
subject of investigation in his work. 'Race, religion, kiwiana, politics, struggle,
humour. I find inspiration in so many things. If you treat it with the integrity
it deserves, I believe that nothing should be untouchable for an artist,' he
says.
Youle's work 12 Shades of Bullshit explores the historical
representation of Maori in New Zealand art. Twelve silhouettes
have been created from illustrations of Maori by early European
explorers and artists including Sydney Parkinson and George
French Angus. Youle discovered that 'when traced and reverted
into a simple outline, the forms not only change gender, but
ethnicity also, with white-man noses, jawbones and foreheads.'
He was intrigued by how this process revealed more about the
way Europeans thought of Maori, than about Maori people themselves.
The silhouettes have been painted in twelve different shades
of brown from a light tan to a dark brown referencing the
various skin tones of contemporary Maori.
Sarah Farrar
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