KAHUKURA, BETTER BICULTURALISM
Jon Tootill
18 May to 13 June 2021

KAHUKURA, BETTER BICULTURALISM

The hero painting for Jon Tootill’s upcoming exhibition at Sanderson Contemporary is a full-spectrum colour study. Piwakawaka (2010-2020) completes a decade-long series that studies the rau, or plumage, of native birds through colour sampling.

Tootill’s works act like an index, mapping colours found in nature. He selects colour using Adobe Capture, he processes those samples digitally and arranges them in combinations. Then, he creates delicate watercolours, patient studies that elicit the nuances of nature all over again. The inherent colour irregularities of these works seep into the fibres of absorbent Fabriano paper. Lastly, he scales up into meticulously painted acrylic linen. Throughout the whole process though, he says, “Titling these works indicate the origins of the colour combinations, rather than a narrative.”

His works are a blend of art, technology and observational science. Tootill’s innovation is to bring to those western knowledge systems, indigenous knowledge and Māori visual culture. Tootill is a bookish artist, one who studies, who likes history and does research. In talking about his research, he reveals that, “The patterns were developed from drawings of whakairo (carving), specifically, areas that might fill-in the background, behind more dominant features.”

Like a carver, “I am interested in the flow of light across a work’s surface, and the changing of colour value”. His paintings look abstract but also reflect the patterns and repetition found in Te Ao Māori, such as those in tāniko or tukutuku. Clearly too, like a botanical illustrator, they reference the observable world where Tootill is charting and cataloguing taiao or the environment.

The piwakawaka is frequently understood as a messenger, living on forest edges and in scrub habitats. Tootill refers to this bird as the anchor for his fourth exhibition Kahukura with Sanderson Contemporary. In so doing, he subtly speculates that parallel, inclusive systems of knowledge are portals to take new directions, with both ancient and new knowledge creating an optimistic future.

Hanna Scott © 2021

TE TAE O TE RAUMATI / THE COLOURS OF SUMMER

06 June to 02 July 2023

Sanderson are pleased to present Te tae o te Raumati / The Colours of Summer - an exhibition of six paintings and six watercolour studies by contemporary painter Jon Tootill (Ngāi Tahu, Pākehā).
 


Tootill has been celebrated as a master of contemporary geometric abstraction in Aotearoa[1]; the precision and lucidity of the artist’s imagery being compared with New Zealand masters Gordon Walters and Theo Schoon. 



This exhibition is an exciting continuation of the artist’s practice and exploration into the seasonal colours in Aotearoa’s landscape. Focussing on the colours of Raumati (summer); the show reflects the inspiration the artist finds from the hues of flora and fauna that surround him over this period.
 


Drawing from his Maori heritage Tootill presents engaging interpretations of traditional lattice work and raranga (weaving) in his paintings, whilst in others inspiration from whakairo (carving) can be recognised.
 

In this new body of work the artist has found inspiration from an assortment of weaving and plaiting work from different iwi. After creating several watercolour studies the artist has developed the shapes that remain present in each piece; creating optical illusions with strong elements of colour.
 


During the 80’s and 90’s Tootill worked as an art director for Saatchi and Saatchi in Aotearoa. The artist's legacy in design and technology is undeniably tangible in his works. The artist utilises Adobe Capture software on his mobile phone to select his colour palette. Taking photos of the trees, leaves and plants that surround him the software converts these into segments of coloured rectangles, and from these coloured sections the artist selects his palette for his abstract compositions.
 

New Zealand art historian Michael Dunn notes:
 
‘By searching for his roots in his Maori heritage and view of the natural world in art and life [Tootill] has found a personal space full of feeling and visual meaning.’

[1] Dunn, M. (2022, November 14). Seasoned Paintings - Recent Work by Jon Tootill. Art New Zealand, Summer 2022 (Issue 184).

WHAKAMOE TAU / THE SEASONS
Jon Tootill
02 August to 28 August 2022

Building on previous botanical inspired series Jon Tootill has now expanded his attention. His 2022 exhibition Whakamoe Tau, features a pou species. Perhaps however the exhibition is less about that tree, than it is about the observed effects of that rakau through time. Tootill appears to be more engrossed by the light, the colours and the tree’s inherent seasonal vibrations.

Previous exhibitions have showcased the brilliant colours of blossoming Karo (Pittosporum crassifolium) and the cycles of growth and harvest of Harakeke (Phormium Tenax). Tootill’s series are meditations on growth, aging, reproduction, transitions in state. These series together are metaphors or maps of the seasons as much as they are illustrations or colour indexes of a particular species.

This exhibition has expanded the scope and range of Tootill’s practice by building knowledge over a much longer timeframe than just one exhibition. The title might point to the development cycle of an exhibition, it can easily take a year to bring a show together. But it also points to the repeated cycle of seasons, not just one year but a lifecycle. It points to the interconnectedness of weather systems and many complementary species, both pollen producers and pollinators. It points to a more ancient wisdom.

The four larger paintings in this show are based on the seasonal colour progression of the trees called Liquid Ambers (Liquidambar styraciflua). The works chromatically denote the change of seasons, light diffracted by leaves in states of growth, decay and renewal. A deciduous tree that drops its leaves in a spectacular show of colour, these trees made popular in specimen plantings.

It is not the first time that Tootill has featured exotics, his earlier painting, Ngā Rakau Ingarihi I Matariki | The English trees at Matariki dates to 2017. It also features the tones of the Liquid Amber. That work points to the aging of the colonial project in Aotearoa. It poetically reclaims local landscapes by activating a Māori world view.

Using a sublime and ancient matauranga or knowledge system, Tootill anchors himself in maramataka, a lunar calendar. He invokes this epic timescale and applies indigenous knowledge to an exotic species, scrutinising the presence of Liquid Ambers with a curious gaze, studious care and grace.

Tootill’s sequence starts at the Māori new year, Matariki. The rising of that star cluster is signalled by the new moon. The rotations and elliptical orbits of Te Ao Marama are one of the great cues to connect with Te Taiao, the environment. Wā Wheuri | Be dark, winter is followed by Wā Matomato (summer season lush green), Te Raumati ki te Ngahuru (summer to autumn) then Wā Whero (turn red, autumn).

For the five smaller artworks, the colours are sampled from Tootill’s immediate rural surroundings. He records te taiao, the environment around him, throughout the year. Those smaller-scale works demonstrate subtle changes in foliage, or the appearance of small fruits, mushroom like growths that sprout year-round or the subtle tones of lichens. Tootill’s ancient vocabulary of the natural world is however freighted with innovation. He records his world with his mobile device, using Adobe Capture software as a vector converter which turns “photos into colour themes, patterns.” Like a DJ sampling sounds, Tootill’s nature-notes research become a reference base for his water colour paintings and the five smaller colour palette works.

With a forensic approach Tootill innovates across western and indigenous knowledge systems and visual cultures. The grid pattern that underscores these works has developed over time. It echoes tukutuku motif and an artistic lineage that might include Toi Te Rito Maihi and the late John Bevan Ford as well as op and minimalist art histories from Bridget Riley to Agnes Martin. The grid imposes a discipline that Tootill has used before. Observant followers of his work will recognise it. Seen through an arc of Tootill’s career output the character of these works takes on an epic scale, one that telescopes time across seasons or even generations.

Essay by curator Hanna Scott