THE DIE IS CAST: So says the text in The Fate Of The Captain’s Gesture, one of 20 new works Peter Ireland exhibits in Gisborne from tomorrow. Completed just this month, the piece must be one of the most current paintings of Captain James Cook and references what is believed to be the oldest, a 1771 work by British artist James Hamilton Mortimer. Picture by Liam Clayton
PETER Ireland loves cats but he’s not afraid to throw one among a bunch of pigeons. And that is just what he does with the first new collection of paintings he has exhibited in Gisborne for more than seven years.
The result of six months’ work, the former Gisborne artist’s collection of 20 new works does what it says it does. Entitled Revision, the pieces challenge old thinking and look afresh at events and players in our history.
That, Ireland admits, might ruffle a few feathers but he remains unapologetic.
“Some people find it too easy to hold on to common fallacies and treat them as fact, but we can do better than that,” he says from his home in Whanganui. “Basically, it’s time to get over it.”
In the painting The Meditations of Nicholas Young I, for example, Ireland reimagines what may have been going through the mind of Captain James Cook’s ship boy Nicholas Young.
In doing so the artist points out that, though credited as having sighted Gisborne promentory Te Kuri o Paoa (Young Nick’s Head) in 1769, he was more likely to have spotted Mount Hikurangi.
The 2019 sestercentennialAt a time when Gisborne is gearing up to mark the 2019 sestercentennial of Cook’s arrival, messing with generally-accepted history is tantamount to treason. Too bad, says Ireland.
“Again, the idea that Te Kuri o Paoa was the first thing Young Nick saw is just a common fallacy that people need to get over,” he says.
“It’s like the “crook Cook” on Kaiti Hill. That statue looks nothing like Cook — it’s even wearing the uniform of an Italian admiral — but for decades it was accepted as representing the real and it remains part of a complex history.”
For his part, Ireland doesn’t pretend his works are “realist”. Rather, they are his way of taking another look at history in a visual, rather than a literary, sense.
While it all sounds terribly thinky, the artist often has tongue firmly in cheek. In another example, the work Endeavour Flag plays on the recent national debate over a proposal to change the New Zealand flag.
“Why not propose a new flag for a vessel (Cook’s ship Endeabour) long sunk?” he asks, referring to his own design incorporating two mere (Maori clubs) crossed in suggestively piratical style.
Why not, indeed.
In general, the new paintings often use old imagery and most of the cast of characters — with the exception of 347-420CE scholar Saint Jerome — hail from the 18th century.
Their delivery, however, is distinctly contemporary, Ireland using favoured motifs (like vases and cameo-style silhouettes) and crisp colours to carry his message.
“A lot of contemporary painting is incredibly drab and I like to get away from that,” he says. “So I’ve always been a colour guy, and that’s the way I plan to keep it.”
Ireland introduces his exhibition notes with the Latin phrase “Verba docent, exempla trahunt” (“Words instruct, illustrations lead”) and he says it is that perspective that allows him both intellectual and visual freedom.
“It’s all about the processes of translation and how history’s translation of single facts develops into general interpretation,” he says.
“It is clear to me that what may be problematic for an historian is a rich seam to be explored by a visual artist.”
That was always the plan, anyway, and Ireland says that over the months of working at his historic cottage in Whanganui it is a plan that has come together just nicely.
Always one to work systematically, the artist found his work programme scuppered by bouts of both ill health and injury but, despite that, says even he was surprised at how natural links have formed between works seemingly separated by space and time.
“It often happens but it never gets old, seeing how the conversations between the paintings have got more interesting and complex as work has progressed,” he says.
“It’s exciting, and I’m looking forward to seeing them all hung together in Gisborne.”
Peter Ireland’s exhibition, Revision, opens in Tairawhiti Museum’s Chrisp Gallery tomorrow (5.30pm) and will be on show until April 17.
The artist gives a floor talk about the exhibition at the museum the following day (Saturday, January 30, 2pm).,PETER Ireland loves cats but he’s not afraid to throw one among a bunch of pigeons. And that is just what he does with the first new collection of paintings he has exhibited in Gisborne for more than seven years.
The result of six months’ work, the former Gisborne artist’s collection of 20 new works does what it says it does. Entitled Revision, the pieces challenge old thinking and look afresh at events and players in our history.
That, Ireland admits, might ruffle a few feathers but he remains unapologetic.
“Some people find it too easy to hold on to common fallacies and treat them as fact, but we can do better than that,” he said from his home in Whanganui. “Basically, it’s time to get over it.”
In the painting The Meditations of Nicholas Young I, for example, Ireland reimagines what may have been going through the mind of Captain James Cook’s ship boy Nicholas Young.
In doing so the artist points out that, though credited as having sighted Gisborne promentory Te Kuri o Paoa (Young Nick’s Head) in 1769, he was more likely to have spotted Mount Hikurangi.
The 2019 sestercentennialAt a time when Gisborne is gearing up to mark the 2019 sestercentennial of Cook’s arrival, messing with generally-accepted history is tantamount to treason. Too bad, says Ireland.
“Again, the idea that Te Kuri o Paoa was the first thing Young Nick saw is just a common fallacy that people need to get over,” he said.
“It’s like the “crook Cook” on Kaiti Hill. That statue looks nothing like Cook — it’s even wearing the uniform of an Italian admiral — but for decades it was accepted as representing the real and it remains part of a complex history.”
For his part, Ireland doesn’t pretend his works are “realist”. Rather, they are his way of taking another look at history in a visual, rather than a literary, sense.
While it all sounds terribly thinky, the artist often has tongue firmly in cheek. In another example, the work Endeavour Flag plays on the recent national debate over a proposal to change the New Zealand flag.
“Why not propose a new flag for a vessel (Cook’s ship Endeabour) long sunk?” he said, referring to his own design incorporating two mere (Maori clubs) crossed in suggestively piratical style. Why not, indeed.
In general, the new paintings often use old imagery and most of the cast of characters — with the exception of 347-420CE scholar Saint Jerome — hail from the 18th century.
Their delivery, however, is distinctly contemporary, Ireland using favoured motifs (like vases and cameo-style silhouettes) and crisp colours to carry his message.
“A lot of contemporary painting is incredibly drab and I like to get away from that,” he said. “So I’ve always been a colour guy, and that’s the way I plan to keep it.”
Ireland introduces his exhibition notes with the Latin phrase “Verba docent, exempla trahunt” (“Words instruct, illustrations lead”) and he says it is that perspective that allows him both intellectual and visual freedom.
“It’s all about the processes of translation and how history’s translation of single facts develops into general interpretation,” he said.
“It is clear to me that what may be problematic for an historian is a rich seam to be explored by a visual artist.”
That was always the plan, anyway, and Ireland says that over the months of working at his historic cottage in Whanganui it is a plan that has come together just nicely.
Always one to work systematically, the artist found his work programme scuppered by bouts of both ill health and injury but, despite that, says even he was surprised at how natural links have formed between works seemingly separated by space and time.
“It often happens but it never gets old, seeing how the conversations between the paintings have got more interesting and complex as work has progressed,” he said.
“It’s exciting, and I’m looking forward to seeing them all hung together in Gisborne.”
Peter Ireland’s exhibition, Revision, opens in Tairawhiti Museum’s Chrisp Gallery tomorrow (5.30pm) and will be on show until April 17.
The artist gives a floor talk about the exhibition at the museum the following day (Saturday, January 30, 2pm).