Ralph Hotere
Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1931, d.2013
Te Aupōuri,
Muriwhenua,
Māori
Bill Culbert
Aotearoa New Zealand / England / France, b.1935, d.2019
Pathway to the Sea - Aramoana
- 1991
- Lithograph
- Purchased 1991
- By permission of the Bill and Pip Culbert Trust and the Hotere Foundation Trust.
- 530 x 705mm
- 91/25:7-13
In te reo Māori, Aramoana means ‘pathway to the sea’. It’s also a small settlement on the Otago Peninsula, near where Ralph Hotere had his studio – and where Hotere and fellow artist Bill Culbert protested against the building of an aluminium smelter, which they were concerned would degrade the harbour. The two were great friends, and Culbert would return to Aotearoa New Zealand most years from his home in Europe (usually during Bluff oyster season) to collaborate on large-scale sculptural works with Hotere. This suite of lithographs extends the ideas of one of Hotere and Culbert’s earliest sculptural collaborations, also titled Pathway to the Sea – Aramoana. It features the glasses of wine they enjoyed together, the pāua shells and fluorescent tubes of the installation work, and questions about place and personal identity.
(Te Wheke, 2020)
Exhibition History
This suite relates to Pathway to the Sea – Aramoana (1991), a major sculptural installation of parallel rows of fluorescent tubes and paua shells that stretch across the floor. Based around Otago Harbour, the prints show a range of ideas and themes that Ralph Hotere and William Culbert had for the installation.
The wine glass, which occurs throughout this suite, symbolises the harbour and its stem symbolises the ‘pathway to the sea’. There is also text, which, of course, is absent from the installation piece. Hotere and Culbert raise the question of identity by asking ‘No Hea Koe?’ (Where are you from?) and ‘Ko Wai Koe?’ (Who are you?)
Hotere and Culbert collaborated on a number of large scale sculptural works since the early 1990s.
Hotere was born in Taikarawa, Northland, and was one of New Zealand’s most significant contemporary artists. He studied at the Central School of Art in London and worked in France and Italy but lived at Port Chalmers. Hotere exhibited paintings and sculpture throughout New Zealand and made numerous works as a result of public commissions. Culbert was born in Port Chalmers, near Dunedin. He studied at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Art and in 1957 travelled to London and attended the Royal College of Art. Culbert has been making sculptures using light since the late 1960s and exhibits widely in Britain and Europe. He currently lives in London and the south of France and often returns to New Zealand.
Related reading: Ralph Hotere
Notes
Ralph Hotere: Ātete (to resist)
The extraordinary exhibition Ralph Hotere: Ātete (to resist) provided Ōtautahi Christchurch audiences with a truly remarkable opportunity to experience artworks by Ralph Hotere at first hand. Ralph was one of Aotearoa’s most talented artists and, significantly for Christchurch, two of his most notable works, Godwit/Kuaka (1977) and Black Phoenix (1984–88), were shown for the first time in the city.
Notes
Ralph Hotere
Hard to believe two years have already gone by since the passing of Ralph Hotere on 24th February 2013. Unlike many public galleries around the country at the time of his passing Christchurch Art Gallery was frustratingly unable to display any works by Ralph from the collection due to our ongoing closure.
Notes
Ralph Hotere (Te Aupōuri) 11 Aug 1931 - 24 Feb 2013
Join us in commemorating the first anniversary of the death of one of New Zealand's most significant and acclaimed artists.
Notes
Black Union Jack
With the death of Nelson Mandela, the history of the anti-apartheid struggle is being re-examined, including the protest movement that emerged here in New Zealand.
Notes
Black Painting
Ralph Hotere's recognition as a Member of the Order of New Zealand in the New Year was a fitting tribute to an artist whose work has truly reflected social, political and environmental issues relating to New Zealand and the wider international community throughout his career.
Notes
Sangro Litany by Ralph Hotere
The Sangro series, begun in 1962, is a memorial to Ralph Hotere's brother Jack, who fought with the Maori Battalion and whose grave lies among those of hundreds of other young soldiers at the Sangro River War Cemetery on Italy's Adriatic Coast.
Notes
Drawing (KO WAI KOE?) by Ralph Hotere
This article first appeared in The Press on 28 March 2007
Among the highlights of the Christchurch Art Gallery's drawing collection is Drawing (KO WAI KOE?) by Otago artist Ralph Hotere. Produced in 1977 Drawing (KO WAI KOE?) illustrates Hotere's development from his formal geometric approach found in his earlier work of the late 1960s and early 1970s towards the more expressive manner he developed throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Commentary
Ralph Hotere: Ātete (to resist)
Ralph Hotere’s art charted his journeys throughout Aotearoa and the world, reflecting on his experiences, identity and politics. As the first major survey exhibition of Hotere’s artistic career for over twenty years, Ātete celebrates his achievements and brings his vision to a new generation. It’s been a huge project to bring together so we thought it was timely to ask the four curators to tell us a little about their relationship with Hotere – how do they connect as individuals with the artist’s works, and the themes and the locations that they explore?
