Whangārei's Hundertwasser Art Centre and Wairau Māori Art Gallery has a wonderful exhibition of the lifeworks of Austrian artist Fredensreich Hundertwasser, columnist Vaughan Gunson discovers.
Whangārei's Hundertwasser Art Centre and Wairau Māori Art Gallery has a wonderful exhibition of the lifeworks of Austrian artist Fredensreich Hundertwasser, columnist Vaughan Gunson discovers.
OPINION:
This is my fourth instalment on the Hundertwasser (Hundertwasser Art Centre and Wairau Māori Art Gallery, at Whangārei Town Basin).
Time for some thoughts on the main exhibit of his life and work.
The first thing to say is that it's extensive. There are drawings from his adolescence, earlypaintings and prints as a practising artist, models of architectural projects, large paintings from later in his career, textile work, posters for causes, and photos of life in New Zealand at his "Bottlehouse" home near Kawakawa. It is a rich selection. Too much to take in properly in one go.
As well as the number of works, the exhibition is rich in another way. And here, the comparison with a calorific and flavoursome meal is appropriate.
Most people will be familiar with Hundertwasser's distinctive palette of primary and complementary colours. He used vibrant yellows, blues, reds, bright greens and oranges all his artistic life.
Upon developing his signature style, Hundertwasser didn't vary it much over the course of his career. Not compared, say, with Picasso, who went through many stylistic variations.
Seeing so many of Hundertwasser's two-dimensional works in one place can be overwhelming. It's like the same symphony, as beautiful as it may be, playing over and over.
Which means you have to work hard to see the uniqueness of each individual piece.
Walking around, I did wish to see evidence of new directions or tangents rather than Hundertwasser continuing to hone (or perhaps overuse) his distinctive aesthetic.
Maybe for this reason I found myself drawn to earlier work from the 1960s and 70s. The Boy with the Green Hair (1967), for example, has a freshness and weirdness sometimes lacking in later works.
Another piece, this time from 1987, Talks with the Beyond, stood out because the colours are more muted (by Hundertwasser's standards).
My favourite room in the exhibition features some of the posters he designed for environmental campaigns.
There's the famous one for the 1974 Conservation Week in New Zealand.
There's a selection from a Use Public Transport-Save Our City campaign for Brussels, the capital of Belgium.
These are delightfully detailed, playful and engaging.
Another poster, with the words Among Trees You Are at Home, works in any context as a message to heed. Originally, it was used by the Jewish National Fund (KKL) in a campaign for the reforestation of the Negev Desert in Israel.
I enjoy how the text in these pieces, like an advertising slogan, combines so effectively with the dazzling images. Words toughen them, in my opinion. Taking them out of the mystical zone of individual contemplation and setting them to work in the political space of the city.
These poster designs still have force now, as the issues Hundertwasser was passionate about (public transport, clean water, planting trees) are still urgent.
Sometimes, an artist's overtly political work is considered weaker. Not proper art because it doesn't hang in a gallery or someone's home. In Hundertwasser's case, his art gains by being activated in political and ideological struggles.
The artwork of Fredensreich Hundertwasser was prescient of the challenges we face, such as climate change and the loss of native forests.
It's important this aspect of Hundertwasser's life and work is celebrated and acknowledged. He doesn't deserve to be regarded as someone who produced merely "pretty paintings" or "wacky buildings".
The exhibition, which has been curated, thankfully avoids this. We can, therefore, still be challenged afresh by his lifestyle, politics, and beliefs about art and architecture.
One poster, in particular, speaks down through the decades from 1990 when it was designed for a campaign to save the planet's rainforests.
Across the top of a typically organic scene of stylised trees and forest life are the words "SURVIVAL OR SUICIDE".
Even so many years ago, Hundertwasser was prescient of the choice we face. Either we pull back from our "war on nature" as he called it, or we perish with the rainforests.
I don't think Hundertwasser meant just a physical extinction. I take it that he meant spiritual death as well.
In separating ourselves from nature, plundering it relentlessly for profit, wealth and comfort, we deny a relationship with the natural world that would make us more content and satisfied. A deep knowledge that many indigenous cultures struggle to maintain.
Hundertwasser could be quite blunt when he used words in his artworks or wrote down his thoughts in manifestos and letters. There's a tone in his writing that is a nice counterpoint to the cheery optimism of his visual output.
He was also very good at offering wisdom in short gnomic phrases.
To get inside his head, I thoroughly recommend purchasing the small pocketbook Hundertwasser For Future from the gift shop.
It's a wonderful selection of quotes, combined with images, that shows how insightful, sincere and passionate he was about restoring balance to our relationship with nature.
