A celebrated Pasifika artist living locally and working out of Raglan’s Wharf Gallery is relishing the space he now has to create the “big paintings” for which he’s internationally renowned.
In fact Fatu Feu’u’s latest work down at the gallery takes up three-and-a-half metres of wall space – a luxury compared with the cramped studio in Thames where the now 77 year old has been based for a decade or so.
Fatu says he‘s enjoying these days waking up to the peace and quiet of the harbourside Greenslade Rd home where he and wife Vivienne are currently living, before heading down town to the gallery he now part-owns with friend and fellow art aficionado Sharon O’Brien.
He fondly recalls Sharon curating an exhibition of his at the gallery a couple of years ago, and is keen to extend their joint venture to include not only painting and printmaking but also mentoring of aspiring local artists and running workshops for school students.
“I want to help the young to make art, sell art, put food on the table,” Fatu says, recalling he himself had been fortunate to get mentored along the way.
Fatu grew up in the Western Samoan village of Poutasi, but many years ago emigrated to Aotearoa, where he has been pivotal in shaping interest in contemporary Pacific art globally and nurturing a generation of Pacific artists locally.
Fatu – described by Wikipedia as the “elder statesman” of Pacific art in New Zealand – has taken under his wing local artist Jason Messent, who is working alongside him at the gallery and, with Sharon, helps make the prints from his mentor’s woodcuts.
As part of his passion to help aspiring young artists, Fatu hopes soon to mount a joint exhibition with Jason.
Fatu himself has been a full-time artist since 1988 and his paintings, woodcut prints and bronze and wooden sculptures are now held in public and private collections around the world.
In 1995 he became the first artist of Pacific heritage to receive the prestigious James Wallace Art Award, and then in the 2001 New Year honours won the New Zealand Order of Merit for his “achievements in art”.
More recently, Fatu’s become the recipient of three further awards.
In April, he was named one of Auckland University’s five Distinguished Alumni Award winners. This followed on from receiving late last year both the Senior Pacific Artist Award from Creative New Zealand and the Icon Award Whakamana Hiranga from The Arts Foundation.
Fatu says he thought it was “fake news” when he heard the Icon Award was coming his way, but then realised “this is real”. He chuckles at the memory of the congratulatory phone call he received while driving from Wellington to Auckland one day.
He feels proud to be included in a living circle of 20 of the country’s most significant artists, for their extraordinary lifetime achievements and mark on the arts.
Fatu recalls the elaborate dinner put on at Government House in Wellington and meeting up with his two fellow 2022 icons, film-maker Jane Campion and artist Robin White who – like himself – received the honour for visual arts.
They dined with icons from previous years like Kiwi actor Sam Neill, film-maker Peter Jackson and opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa.
Meantime, Fatu reckons – with another of those characteristic chuckles – that Raglan’s “sort of” growing on him and Vivienne with whom he recently “eloped”. Together they share 10 children and 11 grandchildren.
Whāingaroa’s a beautiful place, Fatu says; his sons-in-law surf here and he himself loves golf and walking. “I’m going to join the golf club one day,” he adds.
