Thanks for the review. Am going to rework that intro accordingly. Cheers
Journalism / The Ancient Way
To properly explore the art of Fatu Feu’u, a little background music may be appropriate. It helps if you take a limited number of tapa motifs; treat them as if they were musical notes in an octave and there you have the makings of multiple melodies and harmonies. And just like the beats in a bar dictating the musical tempo, so too, size and frequency of motifs determine the rhythm in a tapa grid.
With the grid providing a stave for composition, Feu’u has not only used and re-used motifs he has also introduced new and unearthed old designs into the New Zealand consciousness. References to Lapita pottery and masks, Polynesian navigation and Samoan tattoo are presented and re-interpreted to signify new meanings through combination, painted accent and prominence. It is the repositioning and highlighting of these elements that not just simulates but evolves tapa design. His motifs look at the relationship between social obligation, authority and power. This is not to say Feu’u is a tapa artist, but rather an artist that has mastered the fundamentals of tapa design.
Feu’u has also adapted, maybe unconsciously, the over-painting method of tapa making within his own process . Untrained in a formal sense, Feu’u instinctively applies raw colour in this mode. Colours, generally unmixed, are left to peek out behind one another. The effect creates a sense of history and travel like a well-marked road map. It allows the viewer to connect with the process, as well as creating multiple layers of engagement.
Like many other Polynesian artists, Feu’u visited his homeland, Samoa, and other Pacific islands to study the art of the region. As he started to incorporate iconography from Polynesia, Feu’u faced criticism for using traditional imagery away from “the safe territory of folklore and making it confront the world”. His response at the time was he was “putting it on a pedestal for all to see”. In addition, he has sought permission and counsel from Samoan elders where he thought appropriate.
Currently, a new wave of criticism has surfaced from Polynesian artists and commentators, who see his continued use of the frangipani as overtly commercial and in turn perpetuating a Pacific cliché. However, Feu’u remains ambivalent about this debate. He has been painting the frangipani for more than 20 years and it continues to interest and inspire him.
“The motif is as old as the Chinese culture. I have taken it on. I love it. I used to see it when I was young. When I paint it, I have the feeling of my culture, my ancestors, my home. It does a lot of beautiful things to my mind.”
In this instance, perhaps Feu’u is the rebel staving off conformity to follow his creative yearnings. Certainly, watching him paint reveals a fluid, spontaneous painter whose senses are honed by practice. He is instinctive and bold in his approach to the canvas, allowing a loose, free style of painting that reveals a comfortable relationship between himself and his work. His formulaic structure creates a template but he is not rigid about its form. Creative diversions are revealed in Hauraki Pale Auro and Tula’i Tamasese, which include an abstract landscape, and McCahonesque text that laments the assassination of Samoan freedom fighter Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III . His use of text is a shy man’s form of publishing. The poems in his current works are present but not always legible. He once commented: “I’m not good at writing poetry, all my poetry is in my art.” Perhaps some public coaxing is required to see the poet free? These regular departures from his standard practice are perhaps why Feu’u’s work should be considered with more critically.
Feu’u’s use of the familiar has bred a comfortable but not necessarily critical art audience. The breadth and variety of his work, which includes sculpture, seems to go unnoticed with the main focus being centred on his tapa-grid style works. But he is slowly, gently pushing the boundaries of his work. He continues to explore Lapita masks from various angles, according them histories and personalities of their own.
In the late 1970s when Feu’u first started painting and exhibiting, he admits to trying to be like Picasso. However, through the encouragement of Tony Fomison, Philip Clairmont and Pat Hanly, he started to draw upon his culture for inspiration. At the same time, Fomison introduced Feu’u to lithography. Printmaking, due to its similarity to tapa making, seems to suit Feu’u. His ability to explore design, colour and composition come the fore in this medium. Not content with standard printing practices, he broke new ground when he combined tapa cloth and commercial dyes to produce lithographs. Painting on tapa remains an area of interest for Feu’u but his progress is hindered by the scarcity of blank tapa available for purchase.
The titles of Feu’u’s work also changed around this time. He started using Samoan words and continues to do so. The translations are sometimes supplied and at other times are left in the Samoan language, giving the viewer the option of considering the words or concentrating wholly on the artwork. The Samoan names probably also reflects on the changing status of Pacific peoples within New Zealand. Given the downturn in the economy in the 1970s: the resulting high unemployment and subsequent persecution of the brown population during the “dawn raids” , this lowered the likelihood of a Pacific-language friendly art market when Feu’u first immigrated. Now it is commonplace to see artworks with names in languages other than English.
In 1996 Feu’u became the first recipient of the MacMillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies artist-in-residence programme. The panels Ui Po Ae Fau Po (situated within the MacMillan Brown Centre) came from work created during this term. They reveal a dynamic, experimental Feu’u. Here he explores cross hatching, lashing and weaving using muted but powerful tones. The relentless repetition creates a thumping rhythm that conjures images of a weavers working in a feverish funk. Feu’u comments that his time at MacMillan Brown was a chance to experiment with different and new ideas. The panels were seen as an exciting departure with “fresh power” that connected with the Pacific and the history of Western abstract art. The panels should be considered as part of a grand suite of works that will to expand in quality and quantity as Feu’u continues to forge ahead.
Through diversity in medium and process, Feu’u has demonstrated that he is able to command much more than an octave of motifs. Inspection of his work reveals he is a master composer of Polynesian iconography, whose visual opus has many more movements to come. The continuing development of Feu’u’s art also coincides with the challenge for art audiences to revisit his work with fresh eyes and look beyond the tapa, beyond the primary.
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jfmalewitz reviewed Version 1 -
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I really can’t find much wrong with this. I would like a better lead. “To properly explore the art of Fatu Feu’u, a little background music may be appropriate.” This isn’t a lead to catch the eyes, which a journalism piece should at least attempt. I understand you just dive into the story, and I am not familiar with the publication you are aiming at (newspaper? magazine?) but I would say something to excite the mind, or why this is important to the culture or reader. Overall, a very polished piece. Don’t submit it before checking your placement of punctuation. I saw this: ”...the over-painting method of tapa making within his own process . ” Lastly, be careful with your adverb use; I recall Stephen King in “On Writing” mentioning writers shouldn’t fall back on them. One is fine, in my opinion, but two in the same sentence is kind of pushing it. I saw this: “But he is slowly, gently pushing the boundaries of his work.” Slowly and gently are fine by me, but I just wanted to point that out. I did learn this from Stephen King, and I see other writers using adverbs well like you, so don’t take that as scripture. Other than that, a very well-written piece. For journalism, it is one of the better ones I have read on Urbis today. I wish you luck. Thanks for letting me read this.
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Deanne reviewed Version 1 -
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Chago reviewed Version 1 -
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This is a really good piece. Its interesting to me because I have an interest in your subject matter to begin with, but even without that interest it would still grab a reader. The only thing that seemed to have a need to be fixed would be the first line. “To properly explore the art of Fatu Feu’u, a little background music may be appropriate.” If you are going to talk about the background, then just do it and not say, “Here it is.” If you work this into your intro or cut it out, I think this piece would be complete! Good job!
ThePenPusher reviewed Version 1 -
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Very well written but not intended for the novice reader. In reading and not being familiar with the art, I initially thought Fatu Feu’u was an art form rather than the person. Since reading the article, I will go back and learn more about the artist and the art form. It would have been nice to have some of that worked into your article for those of us not so informed.
beata reviewed Version 1 -
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There’s a wealth of information here. Excellent writing. But I have to admit that I needed to look up a few things, such as tapa. (thank goodness for wikipedia) Once I did, everything fell into place. If your audience is familiar with the Polynesian culture and visual art, this is perfect. But if you’re writing for less knowledgeable readers, you may want to include a few definitions.
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