Loretta Reynolds
In Tangaroa We Trust
BCA Gallery
August 24th, 6pm

In a new series of works on transparent acrylic sheet, Reynolds’ on-going exploration of contemporary Rarotongan cultural values incorporates new motifs with an innovative visual presentation.

Painting with a reflective surface, the artist essentially paints in reverse, leading in with the darkest colours and finishing with the lightest, immediate parallels with the William Wyatt Gill book ‘From Darkness to Light in Polynesia’ are drawn, however with the premise somewhat  reversed.

The Rarotongan God Tangaroa remains front and center along with developing iconography. The Cook Islands Coat of Arms is referenced, cultural appreciation and understanding (as the title of the show suggests) is asked for. The DNA of past and future generations is carried forward within a new turtle motif, the patterns of the turtle shell fascinating to the artist, the patterns themselves serving as a record of Cook Islands genealogy

Reynolds humorous reference to the throwaway,  incongruous by-line of American identity, draws  her viewers’ attention through a vortex of cultural veracity, the mirror like presentation of the show delivering a universe of past, present and future self-analysis.

‘In Tangaroa we Trust’ is a definitive statement of cultural foundation for a contemporary generation.

Nanette Lela'ulu
Snapshots from the back of my bike
BCA Gallery
August 24th, 6pm

'For the past 25 years, I have painted people, then after my fifth visit to the Cook Islands began to paint Rarotonga. While sitting in New Zealand, freezing, I had dreamed of being back here where my heart has made a home. These paintings have been my life line and have kept my heart connected to this land in my absence. Rarotonga has captured my heart and tamed my soul, the land holds itself in its vulnerable isolation with such majesty.

Rarotonga, I love you, these little paintings are my tribute to you.'

Nanette Lela'ulu, Rarotonga, August 2011.