Joan Gragg
Patia Te Pere – The Big Deal
July 18 – 30
BCA Gallery, Rarotonga

For 32 years, Cook Islands artist Joan Gragg has painted her take on the unique characteristics of life in the Cook Islands.

In Patia Te Pere - The Big Deal, Joan re-presents her narrative within a first edition series of 1000 decks of playing cards, the characters, themes and patterns from the contemporary playing deck proficiently replaced by Cook Islands cultural, environmental and societal icons. 

Embedded within this story is the artist’s constant theme of humour and the unique social attribute’s on daily display within a contemporary pacific society.

While it is obvious to reference the popular local card game of Uka, a flamboyant, effusive performance more oft supplemented by raucous laughter, drinks, ei katu and cigarette’s, Joan's choice of artistic delivery (the cards) offers a poignant comment on the transposable and economic nature of culture  itself.

With Cook Islands Tourism increasingly recognizing the commodity like value of culture within its more recent international marketing efforts, Joan  has painted it, sent it to China and turned it into a large scale, affordable tourist souvenir for re-export and constant destination advertising  where ever the cards may travel.

With this type of art creation Joan  acknowledges the efforts of large scale art production powerhouses like Jeff Koon’s, Takashi Murakami and Damien Hirst and gives the thumbs down to prodigiously out-dated economic theories as they pertain to Small Island States (SIS) and their apparent competitive (dis) advantages within the global trading sphere. 

A refreshing discourse on the Sino-Pacific relationship and how it can fuel pacific tourism awareness and preserve local identity ensues.  Also bought into question is the debate on culturally specific products, their manufacture, supplication and inherent market perception. 

The Big Deal opens at BCA Gallery Taputapuatea 6pm, Monday July 18th.

Selected exhibitions:  Patia Te Pere – The Big Deal, BCA Gallery, Rarotonga, 2011; Seeing the Funny Side, The Cook Islands National Museum, Rarotonga, 2010;  The Nuku, The Art Studio, Rarotonga, 2008;  Aue Te Mataora, BCA Gallery, Rarotonga, 2002;  In Memory, Paradise Inn, Rarotonga, 1989.
Collections: Bank of the Cook Islands, (BCI), The Cook Islands National Museum, University of the South Pacific (Cook Islands Campus), BCA Gallery Collection and private collections throughout Britain, Australia and New Zealand.