KOWHAI - Art Exhibition 2004
Paintings by Rua Pick

This Kowhai/Yellow series is the fifth and final of the five colour series which encompassed Kura/Red 2000, Ari/White 2002, Poouri/Black 2002 andTangaroa/Blue 2003.

The Kowhai series grows from ancient stories Puuraakau/seedlings, within formats which are metaphors of kowhai/yellow. When the Kowhai blooms in springtime through the warming land, Papatuuaanuku/Grandmother Earth awakens from her winters rest - the expansion after the contraction. Te Aitanga a Pepeke a Punga/Insects surge from the ground, their sounds awakening the birds to build their nests. "Ka tangi te wharauroa, ko nga karere a mahuru", "when the shining cuckoo calls it is the messenger of spring" (proverb). The return of the migratory birds to Aotearoa, Koekoeaa/Longtailed Cuckoo, Piipiiwharauroa/Shining Cuckoo and Kuaka/Godwits, these birds' songs remind the people to dig and plant their gardens, "koia-koia"/"dig-dig" and begin traveling the trails of the land and sea with the trilling of the Riroriro/Grey warbler. The Inanga/White bait, Tuna/eels and Kahawai swim up the rivers from the sea. The season of the Kowhai the colour of Ora/Life, of creativity and renewal. Song upon song, sound upon sound, spiraling to the stars.

In the Kowhai painting formats I pay homage to the smallest creatures, Te Pepeke/Insects and the Tangata Pepeke/the insect people, who honor the insect's wisdom by watching and learning from these small yet the most abundant children of Taane/forest and Tangaroa/water. They are the very pulse of life on Papatuuaanuku/Grandmother Earth. With Te Whaa o Mahuru/Spring, comes the many varied frequencies of nature's dynamic season. Stories of sound and music are played out in shapes of Puoro/musical instruments. Bird forms of night and day are also portrayed, of this time when light and dark are equal. Other works explore the Maara/garden and Te Whanau Maarama/the light giving ones, the stars and planets which are seasonal indicators and hold old knowledge. Kowhai is a vision of sounds.

"Te Ao Maarama Waiata i roto i te Peepepe nga paakau"

"The universe sings in the butterflies' wings"