Hands-on adds impact to sculpture

Chris Charteris’ work Rongo.

It's hard to resist touching sculptures made by Chris Charteris. The smooth cross-shape cut deep into the surface of a craggy chunk of pounamu is the width of a hand - it demands caressing.

Running a thumb up the sharp edge of a black rock barb, resting a hand on the shoulder of rough volcanic rock cut with tapa patterns, are gestures integral to the experience of Charteris' work.

Beyond the Clouds of Red, at Auckland's FhE Gallery, features works for the hand and eye which also carry shapes and patterns with reason, with meaning.

"With the barb shape I've focused on one element of the spear or the fish-hook and played with that," Charteris says. "It's about mankind's interaction with the environment ... It's a primal, universal shape."

Exploring shapes that are universal means Charteris communicates to a wide audience. Although his imagery carries strong Maori and Pacific Island resonances, he describes himself as a "neutral artist using universal forms". Charteris, adopted by a Pakeha family, grew up believing he was Maori, embracing that culture and learning traditional carving.

But in 1995, in his late 20s, he discovered he was of Gilbertese and Fijian origin. In response, he sought references that could belong to any culture. "I look for the common denominators of culture to express myself. If I have a shape I want to work with, I ask myself if it fits my culture, if it's universal, before I proceed with it."

Early in his career he took classical Maori carving to fresh places with body adornment. Visitors to Beyond the Clouds of Red will recognise the connection with jewellery and sculpture, most obviously in the strings of fist-size rocks hanging necklace-like from sturdy bolts in the wall. These works talk about the Maori concept of the house being a body.

"Jewellery is like mini-sculpture. I approach body adornment and large-scale work the same, just using different tools."

What is important is doing justice to the material. The challenge lies in revealing the inner life of a rock or a piece of stone.

"Sometimes a shape will simply work for me and I will focus on that as a concept. For instance, the barb shape is strong and has impact. But it's dangerous and isn't easy to live with and it's that energy that attracts me to it."

Or he will contemplate a chunk of andesite (a volcanic rock), a pounamu boulder or a great lump of granite and rely on instinct to direct him how to shape it.

A hands-on approach adds its own impact, says Charteris, who wants people to touch his sculptures.

"I understand that idea in Pacific Island and Maori cultures of objects having life. Maori have the concept of taonga, heirlooms, getting stronger and stronger over the generations, as they link people. My sculptures, because they are made of natural materials, absorb energy. The more people touch and appreciate them, the better they get."

Exhibition

* What: Beyond the Clouds of Red, by Chris Charteris

* Where and when: FhE Gallery, Khartoum Place, to June 4