Āmiomio

The title of this work means ‘to turn round and round’. It aptly describes both the circle that dominates the work and the furling and unfurling forms of the pītau, or koru, that populate it. The painting can be understood to belong to the artist’s Circular Series, which spanned the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Adsett authority Reuben Friend indicates that the series evokes ‘a feeling of the dense woodland realm of Tāne-Mahuta, the swirling seas of Tangaroa, and turbulent winds of Tawhirimātea through the visual language of kōwhaiwhai’.[1] He also notes:

‘As a design principle, the border is as important to these compositions as the central imagery, forming the negative space that Adsett understands as an intrinsic element of kōwhaiwhai. In many of these paintings he breaks the perimeter of the border, sending shoots of kōwhaiwhai beyond the frame, creating compositions that please his need to occupy the space, while also maintaining balance between planes of positive and negative.’[2]

[1] Reuben Friend (ed.), Toi Koru: Sandy Adsett (Porirua: Pātaka Art + Museum, 2021), 14.

[2] Ibid.