Michael Parekowhai
New Zealand b.1968
Tua Wha (no. 4 from 'Patriot: Ten guitars' series) 1999
Guitar (flame maple, spruce, Rewarewa, swamp Kauri, ebony and paua shell),
stand, light-boxes (screenprinted vinyl on fluorescent light housings, from the
series 'The Bosom of Abraham') and DVD: 2:35 minutes, black and white, sound
Purchased 2000. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation
Collection: Queensland Art Gallery
Michael Parekowhai
Tua Wha (no. 4 from 'Patriot: Ten guitars' series) 1999
Michael Parekowhai is one of Aotearoa New Zealand's most significant contemporary artists. Primarily known as a sculptor, his work is acclaimed not only for its meticulous finish but also for the way it engages with ideas about the creation and place of culture.
Through a minimalist aesthetic, coupled with a dadaist sense of humour, Parekowhai creates works that are deceptively simple.
Parekowhai is a jester, choosing to convey complex political and social issues through satire and subtlety. The 'Ten guitars' series is a tongue-in-cheek ode to the popular 1960s song of the same name.
The song, written by Engelbert Humperdinck, was perceived as espousing the ideals of Aotearoa New Zealand's bi-culturalism, becoming an unofficial Maori anthem.
The accompanying video shows the group Giftbox playing the ten guitars in a performance of the song Guitar boogie, by the popular all-Maori band Quin Tikis. For Parekowhai, it was the Maori who colonised the guitar, not the reverse.
