Brigham Anderson, artist, with Space curator Sarah Williams in the midst of Ngā tukutuku o te kāinga. Photo / Paul Brooks
Brigham Anderson, artist, with Space curator Sarah Williams in the midst of Ngā tukutuku o te kāinga. Photo / Paul Brooks
The first thing you have to realise when looking at Brigham Anderson's exhibition currently showing at Space Studio and Gallery is that what you are seeing are paintings.
Nga tukutuku o te kainga is Brigham's debut exhibition and it is right from the heart.
On one wall is a series representing his take on tukutuku panels, while another wall has works of a different character, using words, letters, horizontals, perpendiculars and colours. The viewer has much to take it.
"I like how these works bring a kind of 'painterly' quality, because Brigham has an amazing way of making his works look so sleek, and often, people have the misconception that they are digital works," says Sarah Williams, Space proprietor and curator.
"If you look closely at the works, you can see where Brigham has put multiple layers and is starting to get that texture coming through."
There is strong logic to the explanations Brigham gives of each of his works on display, delving into the culture of his Ngati Hauiti heritage and using te reo Māori in visually attractive ways.
Other works by Brigham complement his tukutuku series in the exhibition at Space. Photo / Paul Brooks
The use of a maze, for example, with the space between perfectly formed letters providing the route through and around words, with added colour giving depth of meaning and an added visual element.
"I did it as a maze because there is no beginning and no end in this particular one, because in my life, that's what it is," says Brigham.
"I love text, I love the shapes of letters. I knew, as a kid, that they meant things and I loved the patterns, but I couldn't read what they said."
Seeing patterns and shapes, rather than verbal meanings, gave Brigham an early appreciation of the beauty of fonts. He's the guy who sits in the picture theatre watching the credits roll up the screen when everyone else has left.
His tukutuku patterns are his own creation and each panel represents a human quality.
"When you look at the symbols for tukutuku there are stories and a wealth of deep meaning, and the same with each of these pieces. These are all based on values and principles that I believe are important in the home."
His tukutuku panel depicting "fun" has a symbol representing string games, rather like cat's cradle. "Māori called it te whai mawemawe a Maui, because we believe he brought it here."
His own favourite tukutuku panel is Ngakau Aroha, compassion, and he has used the words pupu harakeke and the story of the nocturnal snail that lives in harakeke to illustrate his meaning.
The design is a take on the "snail trail", comprising two strong, straight lines beside a central broken line, signifying his own struggle in the centre, supported by strong family members allowing him to grow and develop.
The panels are large and Brigham made the frames himself. The colours he researched for authenticity and he designed the uniform font for the panels.
"I'm thrilled to be working with Brigham. This is his debut solo show so I'm honoured to have it here," says Sarah.
"When you think of it as a debut show, it is so professional, so strong, and everything is so well thought out. Nothing is by chance in this body of work: it is all purposeful, and I think you walk into the room and get a sense of this come over you."
