Visual Arts of Papua New Guinea
Encyclopedia
Papua New Guinean art has a rich and diverse tradition. In particular, it is world-famous for carved wooden sculpture: masks, canoes, story-boards. Many of the best collections of these are held in overseas museums.
Some of the artists regarded as being in the first wave of contemporary art in Papua New Guinea are: Mathias Kauage
OBE
(b. 1944), Timothy Akis
, Jakupa Ako and Joe Nalo, all from the tough urban area of Port Moresby
. Kauage won Australia's Blake Prize for religious art, four of his works are in the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art, and he had a solo show in 2005 at the Horniman Museum, "Kauage's Visions: Art from Papua New Guinea". Other noted Papua New Guinean visual artists include Larry Santana
, Martin Morububuna and Heso Kiwi.
The works shown below, in composite images, were done while the artists were visiting California but are traditional in content and medium. See http://www.stanford.edu/~mjpeters/png/.
The Nouméa Biennale (an art fair in New Caledonia
) includes works from Papua New Guinea.
Some of the artists regarded as being in the first wave of contemporary art in Papua New Guinea are: Mathias Kauage
Mathias Kauage
Mathias Kauage O.B.E., born in Miugu, Chimbu Province, Papua New Guinea in 1944, died in May 2003 , was a Papua New Guinean artist. In 1998, Kauage was awarded the Order of the British Empire for services to the arts by Queen Elizabeth II. The National Gallery of Australia has described him as...
OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(b. 1944), Timothy Akis
Timothy Akis
Timothy Akis, born around 1944 in Tsembaga village, Simbai Valley, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea, died in 1984, was a Papua New Guinean artist. His art consisted primarily in imaginative pen and ink drawings and batiks inspired by his country's wildlife...
, Jakupa Ako and Joe Nalo, all from the tough urban area of Port Moresby
Port Moresby
Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
. Kauage won Australia's Blake Prize for religious art, four of his works are in the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art, and he had a solo show in 2005 at the Horniman Museum, "Kauage's Visions: Art from Papua New Guinea". Other noted Papua New Guinean visual artists include Larry Santana
Larry Santana
Larry Santana, born in Ramu Valley, Papua New Guinea, in 1962, is a Papua New Guinean painter.Larry's original surname was 'Mike' i.e. Larry Mike and he studied under that name at the Goroka School of Art and Design in 1979. One of his painting tutors at that time was New Zealander Roger Smith...
, Martin Morububuna and Heso Kiwi.
The works shown below, in composite images, were done while the artists were visiting California but are traditional in content and medium. See http://www.stanford.edu/~mjpeters/png/.
The Nouméa Biennale (an art fair in New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
) includes works from Papua New Guinea.