T J McNamara: Modern use of the traditional

Painters can either add or reduce. One exhibition this week is full of works with complex additions of symbol and painterly gestures, and the other has paintings reduced almost to monochrome.

The complex works are by Fatu Feu'u, the Samoan artist resident in New Zealand, who has been given the accolade of an exhibition at the New Gallery until March. The show acknowledges his important place in the art of the South Pacific.

The history of his achievement is now familiar. His talent was recognised, and local artists, notably Tony Fomison and Patrick Hanly, suggested he turn his attention to his Polynesian heritage. He has developed the richness of his style using largely traditional motifs but modern materials.

This show is not a full retrospective but does include enough work to make clear the nature of his achievement. Visitors should take advantage of a useful and free pamphlet by the artist and by Kate Gallagher, of the gallery's staff, that provides a way into every individual work. It would be even more helpful if the works were numbered on the wall and in the pamphlet.

Whether viewers are guided towards interpretation or allow the work to speak for itself, they cannot help but be struck by the colour and the energy of the painting or the cutting in the woodcuts.

There is a good, solid structure in the work, too. Often the work is patterned on a grid and this allows repetition of images with variations characteristic of traditional work on tapa cloth.

An outstanding work of this kind is Agaga Puaikura, one of the first pieces encountered. It alternates the stylised frangipani, which has become his most familiar motif, with forms of the ceremonial mask. These are the masculine and feminine principles. These images are interspersed with images of the flight of birds, like the spirit taking flight, and the tuna fish, symbol of food and plenty. The whole is on a solid base of patterning of the kind used in masculine tattooing.

This painting shares the first gallery with woodcuts and lithographs - processes that Fatu Feu'u uses powerfully.

The woodcuts are particularly fine. Two traditions meet in these works. Printing from woodcuts is an old process in Western art and Feu'u is using it to reach into the foundation myths of his culture.

A particularly fine example is Viiga Poula - an Adoration of the Fertility Ritual by Night. Each of its five parts is a mask and a shield and all convey the sense of growth. A plant grows from a seed and becomes the mask of a god. Then there is binding which suggests building, a fish followed by a lizard and the work is completed by the seed motif growing into a plant from which the spirit can take flight.

With the intricate cutting, notably in the background of the lizard and on the fish, this work is as intricate as the finest tattoo designs. The whole has the mysterious feel of the wind that moves in the treetops at night.

Painting is supplemented by carving in the grandest work of all, which is in the larger room. It is called Fa'aola Mo Taeao - Conserve for Tomorrow. Between grids painted on canvas stand four tall wooden statues like boundary markers. They have ceramic heads, and the two centre ones have tapa cloth as wrapping. All are marked by strong traditional lashing. The outer ones have a weapon to stand guard. Within the painting is a balance of masculine and female motifs. The sheer size and complexity of this work show the ambition and the assurance that Feu'u has attained.

He speaks not only for his culture but has become an integral part of our New Zealand world. In art education, his style of work has had an enormous influence. The colour and the concepts of this artist have struck a chord with the feeling of young people of all races seeking expression that is meaningful for them.

Winston Roeth is an American-born artist whose work is at the Jensen Gallery in Upper Queen St until Christmas.

His work is minimal abstraction. Everything in the painting has been reduced to a luminous field of colour, sometimes surrounded by a framing device.

For most minimal colour field work it is best to stand well back and let the colour work for you. That applies here but also there is another sensation of slipping into a void if you come close to the work. With the luscious blue of Resource this works well, and in works such as Navigator, where a grid emphasises the surface, close viewing makes each compartment within the grid into a special vista.

The work is extreme, even daunting, but offers rich, purely visual, sensations.