New Work

Simon Kaan describes his work as ‘biological landscapes’, animated vistas that piece together a sense of belonging and explore a multi-dimensional sense of self. The images he creates, like the work of the late Ralph Hotere, can be viewed through an allegorical window.

Born in Sawyers Bay in Dunedin in 1971, Kaan has been working for two decades now, since graduating from the Otago Polytechnic School of Art in 1993. At art school Kaan specialised in printmaking, a practice he was taught by Maori educationalist and printmaker Marilynn Webb and Barry Cleavin, a maker of etchings.

As well as having a dedicated printmaking practice Kaan also paints. His painting he says extends from his printmaking base, including notions of reduction. Like Chinese ink and wash works, Kaan’s paintings and prints are not just straightforward reproductions; his work is more of an attempt to capture the intangible or the spirit of a subject. Using a restrained colour palette, often monochromatic or sometimes monochromatic with a single burst of colour, Kaan’s landscapes are uncluttered, contemplative and leave space, as writer Claire Finlayson proposed, for a viewer to ‘breathe’.

They feature signature motifs including striations across the painting or print surface, reminiscent of lines seen in Ngai Tahu rock drawings, horizon lines between sky and sea or simply divisions referencing different realms of spiritual space. Other repeated motifs include a solitary waka, which Kaan has said is a representation of himself.  Mokihi-like, the waka is symbolic of a Ngai Tahu form, a vessel that connects people, land, water and resources. Read another way, the waka relates to ideas of movement and migration; a symbol of Kaan’s Chinese heritage and his position as a member of a diasporic cultural community.

Born in Dunedin to a Ngai Tahu mother, it is not surprising Kaan says his whakapapa and strong sense of his Ngai Tahu heritage, has grounded him in the cultural and physical local landscape, the subject of many of his paintings.  His Chinese heritage, which comes through his late father and his migrant Chinese grandparents, has had equal influence and is as interwoven within his work as it is within him as an individual.

Kaan’s most recent paintings feature muted colour, hints of aqua green amongst the nuanced tonality of brown, black and white, and contain misty, floating landscapes; images of unyielding landmasses within waterscapes. The striations in past works are gone, the format of the compositions more vertical. His new images are less empty, are structured more formally and highlight the fluidity and shimmering effect of water.

He has recently also added performance, artist constructed social experiences or ‘relational aesthetics’ to his repertoire. In The Asian, a project first shown in Dunedin, then in Auckland, Kaan invited visitors to the gallery to have lunch with him via Skype. The eating and sharing of food is important culturally to both Chinese and Maori culture. Using food as a binder, Kaan created a ritualised, communal and culturally engaged experience via technology.

Essay by Megan Tamati Quennell

BIOGRAPHY

Born: Dunedin

Lives: Dunedin

Education: Diploma of Fine Arts in Printmaking (Hons), Otago Polytechnic School of Art

Awards/Distinctions: Artist in Residence, Wanaka Arts Festival (2009); Creative NZ Asia Residency, Beijing, China (2004); Cleveland Art Awards – Winner (2000); Nohoaka Toi Kai Tahu, Kai Tahu Artist in Residence, Otago Polytechnic School of Art (2000)

Collections: Designed carvings for Te Waipounamu, Maori Select Committee Rooms, Parliament, Wellington; The James Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland

Public Exhibitions: Corbans Estate Arts Centre, Auckland (2013); Installation ofKaihaukai as part of the International Symposium on Electronic Arts, IAIA, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA (2012); Pouwhenua Project, The Festival of Colour, Wanaka (2011);The Asian, Blue Oyster Project Space, Dunedin (2010); The Maui Dynasty, The Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatu, Nelson (2008); Learning from The Knee, Burringa Gallery, Melbourne, Australia (2006); Instant Kiwi, Rear Window, Dunedin Public Art Gallery (2005); Ka Wakatipuraka, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu (2003);Maramataka: Light Understanding Space, Otago Polytechnic School of Art (2000); Te Karaka O Te Tai O Araitauru, curated for the National Educators Art Conference, Temple Gallery, Dunedin, 2010

Publications/Articles: Brown, Warwick,Seen this Century, North Shore City: Random House NZ, 2009; ‘Waka and Wave’ by Virginia Were, Art News New Zealand, Winter 2004; “Balanced Politics: the art of Simon Kaan” by Bridie Lonie,Art New Zealand,Summer 2010, No. 136, pp 40-43; Kete Aronui, Maori TV, Episode 5, 2006 (Documentary); Artsville, TVNZ, 2005 (Documentary); Highfield, Camilla and Peter Smith,Pushing the Boundaries: 11 Contemporary Artists in Aotearoa New Zealand, Wellington: Gilt Edge Publishing, 2004; “Tactful Flickers” by Christopher Moore,Christchurch Press, Jun 2004; The Big Art Trip by Douglas Lloyd Jenkins and Nick Ward, TVNZ, 2001 (Documentary)