Untitled, 1976
By the 1970s the use of the koru motif had become problematic for Gordon Walters. Alongside an increasing demand from buyers wanting to purchase these “signature works” was political clamour regarding the appropriation of the traditional Maori motif. This work from 1976 shows Walters’ subtle transition away from the use of koru motifs in his paintings.
However, it was not simply the radical use of Maori kowhaiwhai motifs that propelled Walters to iconic status, it was the way he used them. These were not observational renditions of culture, such as those by artists like Theo Schoon and Dennis Knight Turner, but rather modernist interpretations which owed as much to the influences of international geometric abstraction as they did to the indigenous culture. Walters’ works can be seen as homage to the Maori visual language which is taken a further step through his hybrid abstractions and interpretations of form and pattern.
Here, the koru “bulb” has been separated from its stem. In its place four stylised arcs punctuate the work’s oscillating lines. Within a local context these “arcs” can be seen as a reference to Colin McCahon’s Waterfall paintings of the 1960s. However, in contrast to McCahon’s gestural sweeps of paint executed with a loaded brush, Walters employs a minimalist aesthetic achieved through flat and precise brushstrokes that are barely visible to the eye.
In an international context the optical composition of this work invokes images by British “op” artists such as Bridget Riley. It “plays on the dynamic opposition of black and white - the so-called non-colours which signify the dualities of negative/positive, closed/open, and impure/pure.” (Gilbert-Rolfe, J., “Contradiction Provides the Dialectic that makes it Possible to See”, Appreciating Ryman, December 1975.) It is this push and pull between opposing elements that holds the viewer’s interest in Walter’s works. The ambiguity between foreground and background keeps us guessing about the composition of the image; just as the viewer has a fixed configuration in mind, it is flipped, with the result that the image is in a constant state of flux.
Although completed thirty years ago, this work and others from related series by Walters remain relevant to contemporary trends in international and local painting practice and attest to his position as one of New Zealand’s most progressive and influential artists in recent times.