Maori art goes pop in Dunedin this week. And so do a lot of misconceptions about New Zealand culture.
Nigel Benson meets artist Shane Hansen.
Maori pop artist Shane Hansen is comfortable being a man of contradictions.
He's painting out in the back shed of his Avondale home when his wife, Kirsty, calls him to the phone.
"G'day, mate," he offers, warmly and robustly.
The 37-year-old could be any Kiwi bloke tinkering with a reluctant lawnmower but Hansen is at the leading edge of a crop of New Zealand culture artists bringing a new sophistication to Maori art.
"A lot of young New Zealand artists are doing really well at the moment.
The print market is going really, really well.
It reminds me of the New Zealand music thing a few years ago," he says.
Hansen's latest exhibition, "Me", opened in Dunedin last week.
"It's to launch myself as an artist. All the works relate to me, but they also relate to other people," he says.
"They are an acknowledgement of who I am, where I come from and what's important to me. A lot of it relates to me not being happy with being Maori and Chinese. I've got a tiki, or taniwha, on my shoulder. I used to feel ashamed or scared of it. But now I've accepted it."
"Me" features 12 plywood-and-paint works and a selection of limited-edition prints.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is Friendy; a creature only children can see.
"Instead of the provincial Maori art that we put on for tourists at public things - that `Welcome to Maoriland, let's chase the tourist dollar' thing - I wanted to do something that people would enjoy and find more inviting," Hansen says.
"All us Kiwis embrace the Maori culture when it suits. I wear the face of a Maori, but don't truly know what it means to be Maori. I feel like a tourist in my own culture."
Hansen's work has been described as having "a tension between his desire to express himself and the need to please an audience".
"I'm caught between wanting to do something where I don't care what people think and wanting to do something that has mass appeal," he admits.
"I want people who look at my art to be stimulated. But, there's a bit of darkness there, too."
Hansen is of Ngati Mahanga, Tainui, descent and grew up in a multicultural family of painters and artists.
The walls of the family home in Manurewa dripped with watercolours by his paternal Danish great-grandfather and grandfather.
His maternal grandfather emigrated to New Zealand from China and established a market garden in Pukekohe.
He married Hansen's Tainui grandmother and they had 14 children.
"My mum was brought up not really acknowledging her Chinese and Maori heritage.
"I've been rediscovering my culture: Maori, English, Scottish, Danish and Chinese. I intend to do work inspired by all of my different cultures. I think that's a really good starting journey for me."
As a contemporary artist working within Maori culture, Hansen identifies with pioneering artist Gordon Walters (1919-95), who was experimenting with moko koru motifs and kowhaiwhai (rafter painting) in the 1950s.
In the 1970s, Auckland artist Dick Frizzell took up the taiaha with images such as Mickey to Tiki.
Other contemporary pop artists using Maori imagery include Robyn Kahukiwa, Robyn McGregor, Daniella Hulme, Annie Smits Sandano, Brad Novak, Reuben Paterson, Liam Barr and Mike Weston and Otis Frizzell, who collaborate as Weston Frizzell.
Like most pop artists, Hansen has always chanced his arm.
He started out as a fashion designer; founding the Vampire menswear clothing range and designing garments for surf label Town & Country, before joining Canterbury New Zealand.
"Canterbury were looking for a designer to take them into more modern times.
They wanted to get away from that rugby jersey thing and get a bit more like Nike and adidas," Hansen says.
"That job really opened my eyes to branding and advertising. It taught me a lot."
He later founded marketing company Fly.
"Then, I had a major episode after my son, Nikau, was born last June," Hansen says.
"I was depressed and stressed with what I was doing and I just wanted to focus on family life. His birth made me think about what I wanted to do. I wanted to do something more meaningful.
"Since he was born, I've thought a lot about family. Family is a huge part of my life."
The result was Whanau, a tendrilled commentary on the intricate nature of family ties.
"Whanau started everything for me," Hansen says. "It's about connections. It's complex and family can be complex. We can all relate with what it means to be whanau and the aroha we all share."
I sense Hansen is keen to return to his shed, and the plywood and glass treasures that await - the raw materials he likes working with because "they aren't too polished".
"I think wood gives it more authenticity. After 10 or 20 years the wood will age, but the image will stay the same," he says.
"Wood has a history and the grain is different on every piece. That's just like humans. I've got my blemishes and scars, too.
See it
"Me" by Shane Hansen is on at Gallery De Novo until July 9.
