Lot Notes
This painting is available for viewing at Ocula Galleries, Level 1, 25 Sale St, Freemans Bay, Auckland. Please phone (09) 303 3126 to make an appointment or feel free to come by the gallery anytime between 9am - 5pm weekdays.
Artist Profile
Tony Fomison (1939 - 1990) remains one of New Zealand’s most influential artists, widely acknowledged for his expressive paintings and prints, and his influence on contemporary Māori and Pacific art in New Zealand.
Fomison attended the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts (1956-1960) in Christchurch, where he was taught by the expatriate Lithuanian artist Rudi Gopas. Gopas was a powerful influence on a generation of artists and brought both a Modernist and European romantic sensibility to post war New Zealand art.
In the early 1960s Fomison worked for the New Zealand National Historic Places Trust documenting Māori rock art in South Canterbury. His later painting style of thin oil glazes on coarse hessian was vaguely reminiscent of the textured surfaces of rock walls and seemed a deliberate allusion, but it was possibly influenced by some of the techniques taught by Gopas.
Fomison has frequently been associated with New Zealand expressionist artists Philip Clairmont and Allen Maddox, similarly embracing the notion of the ‘artist-as-outsider.’ However, unlike these expressionist painters, his work is more engaged with Māori mythology and the landscape as a metaphor for the ‘past, present and future.’ Equally, Fomison's admiration for artists such as Goya, Blake and Fuseli reveals a greater curiosity in the nature of the psyche.
Fomison had an interest in cinematic narrative and this blended with a deep affection for Polynesian culture, especially Māori and Samoan. He referenced many myths and legends and then combined his own distinctive style from drawings and magazine photographs. His paintings – often surreal or humorous in ambience - often have a soft light that rakes across their human or landscape forms to be abruptly truncated by ominously shaped shadows that allude to the lighting in Expressionist film.
Fomison was a vital influence on contemporary Pacific art and artists such as Fatu Feu’u, John Pule and Shane Cotton. His work is in all major New Zealand public collections. In 1994 New Zealand writer Ian Wedde curated a major survey, Tony Fomison: What Shall We Tell Them for the City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand, this was accompanied by a monograph by the same name.
Scale View In Virtual Gallery
Ocula is the first art auction site in the world to offer virtual 3D viewing of artworks. In association with Exhibbit we present a 3D simulation of our gallery in Auckland where you can experience a sense of the size and scale of artworks in our auctions. The best experience of the viewer is in full screen mode and this is easily activated once the viewer has opened.
To enable the viewer to play, a once only download of Unity Web Player is required. This is a highly regarded and secure 3D player for Windows and Mac OS X. Unity Web Player supports all major web browsers and is a very quick and free install. Once you have clicked on the View In Gallery button another window will open, and the Ocula window will also remain open. If you have any questions please contact us. Welcome to Ocula (Virtual) Galleries.
View In Gallery
Provenance
Private collection Sydney
Purchased FHE Galleries
Signature and Inscriptions
Title inscribed and dated '79 verso;
Also inscribed verso in artists hand: Elva: don't reframe this painitng
View At Ocula Black Gallery
This artwork is available to be viewed in person at our gallery in Auckland.
The gallery is located at:
Level One
25 Sale Street
Freemans Bay
Auckland
New Zealand
Opening Hours
Monday - Friday : 10am - 6pm
Saturday : By appointment
Telephone
+64 9 3033 126
* You can also view any artwork being offered for sale in an Ocula online auction in 3D virtual
format by clicking on the 'View in Virtual Gallery' link above. Our gallery in Sale St, Auckland
has been fully rendered in full 3D scale format so that users can get a sense of scale for any
artworks offered for sale through Ocula Black.
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Artwork Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Artwork Dimensions (including frame, if applicable): 100.5 x 113 x 4.5 CM
Artwork Weight: 30 KG
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Payment and Right of Return
Payment
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More Information
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contact us.
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in Hong Kong on 800 901 252 and in New Zealand on 09 3033 126.
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