Whakapapa: Get Down Upon Your Knees II

This is one of 16 interlocking canvases that once made up the monumental Whakapapa: Get Down Upon Your Knees (2009). The kaleidoscopic work, which originally measured eight by eight meters, was commissioned for the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Meanjin Brisbane.

As in other works, Paterson adapts and combines motifs from a range of sources, including kōwhaiwhai, whakairo, and mid-century textiles and wallpaper. He plays with the traditions of hard-edge painting and op art, using his signature glitter-based technique to create forms that are at once crisp and textured, saturated and sparkling.

The immense size of Whakapapa: Get Down Upon Your Knees led the work to be broken up. Some panels have remained together in sets of four. Others, like this one, stand alone—at least until such a time as they can be exhibited together again.