KELCY TARATOA
Born 1972 in Levin, New Zealand
Kelcy Taratoa’s formal training was undertaken at Massey Unversity, New Zealand. He studied under the tutalege of professor Robert Jahnke, and Shane Cotton, graduating with a masters in Visual Art with 1st Class Hons.
Taratoa has exhibted in museums and galleries throughout New Zealand, and in Tel Aviv, Israel. His work is held in public, corporate and private collections in New Zealand and abroad. Taratoa has been a finalist in the Wallace Art Awards. He served as a panel judge on the Parkin Drawing Prize, and Miles Art Award. He has been an artist in residence at Scots College, Wellington; and for the last 4 years at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, Tauranga.
Taratoa has been described by Christchurch art critic, Andrew Paul Wood as “…a fasinating artist…” who’s “…artifice is the clever trompe-l’œil of imitating a screenprint or digital print in paint. The immaculately masked edges and the flatness of the paint, betraying no evidence of a brushstroke or roller, indicate the patience and high levels of technical skill involved. The nearest equivalent I can think of is Lichtenstein’s imitation of the comic strip frame down to the Ben-Day dots, married to Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami’s Superflat style…”.
Taratoa has described his works as “…surreal juxtapositions of psychological portraits and embodied within metropolitan structural landscapes…”. He suppositions that “through the assimilation of highly advanced and sophisticated technology, we live and operate within a technological, digital and cyber conundrum. Our ability to discern and distinguish between the real and the fabricated, truth or deception is a prominent challenge of our time. Yet, this is the consequence of the Faustian bargain humanity struck in the pursuit of progression. What have we sacrificed in the name of progression?”
Wassily Kandinsky, writing on the expressive relationship between music and painting, stated: “Colour is the means of exerting direct influence on the soul. Colour is a keyboard, the eye is the hammer that stikes it, the soul the instrument with a thousand strings”.
Colour is a primary feature/consideration of Taratoa’s paintings. He believes “…colour has the power to penetrate the eye, mind and very soul…”. He describes his paintings as techni-colored, hyper-exposed, anamorphic, and holographic compositions. Rich layers of colour and implication saturate Taratoa’s canvases to illuminate a multiplicity of subjects. Taratoa’s practice assimilates digital technologies within the creative process, he rigorously analyses these contemporary permeations through an artistic and intellectual lens, to create dynamic, vibrantly coloured, multi-layered compositions characterised by organic shifts in scale and perspective.
Taratoa lives in Mt Maunganui, New Zealand. He works as an artist and educator. Taratoa has been the artist in residence and tutor at Toiohomai Institute of Technology for the last four years, contributing to the Bachelor of Creative Industries programme. He has procured public gallery exhibitions in New Zealand and abroad: Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel, City Gallery Wellington, Christchurch Art Gallery, The Dowse Art Museum, Pataka Art + Museum, Mangere Arts Centre, Te Tuhi, and New Zealand Portrait Gallery. His works are included in public and private collections in New Zealand and overseas.
Kelcy Taratoa’s formal training was undertaken at Massey Unversity, New Zealand. He studied under the tutalege of professor Robert Jahnke, and Shane Cotton, graduating with a masters in Visual Art with 1st Class Hons.
Taratoa has exhibted in museums and galleries throughout New Zealand, and in Tel Aviv, Israel. His work is held in public, corporate and private collections in New Zealand and abroad. Taratoa has been a finalist in the Wallace Art Awards. He served as a panel judge on the Parkin Drawing Prize, and Miles Art Award. He has been an artist in residence at Scots College, Wellington; and for the last 4 years at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, Tauranga.
Taratoa has been described by Christchurch art critic, Andrew Paul Wood as “…a fasinating artist…” who’s “…artifice is the clever trompe-l’œil of imitating a screenprint or digital print in paint. The immaculately masked edges and the flatness of the paint, betraying no evidence of a brushstroke or roller, indicate the patience and high levels of technical skill involved. The nearest equivalent I can think of is Lichtenstein’s imitation of the comic strip frame down to the Ben-Day dots, married to Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami’s Superflat style…”.
Taratoa has described his works as “…surreal juxtapositions of psychological portraits and embodied within metropolitan structural landscapes…”. He suppositions that “through the assimilation of highly advanced and sophisticated technology, we live and operate within a technological, digital and cyber conundrum. Our ability to discern and distinguish between the real and the fabricated, truth or deception is a prominent challenge of our time. Yet, this is the consequence of the Faustian bargain humanity struck in the pursuit of progression. What have we sacrificed in the name of progression?”
Wassily Kandinsky, writing on the expressive relationship between music and painting, stated: “Colour is the means of exerting direct influence on the soul. Colour is a keyboard, the eye is the hammer that stikes it, the soul the instrument with a thousand strings”.
Colour is a primary feature/consideration of Taratoa’s paintings. He believes “…colour has the power to penetrate the eye, mind and very soul…”. He describes his paintings as techni-colored, hyper-exposed, anamorphic, and holographic compositions. Rich layers of colour and implication saturate Taratoa’s canvases to illuminate a multiplicity of subjects. Taratoa’s practice assimilates digital technologies within the creative process, he rigorously analyses these contemporary permeations through an artistic and intellectual lens, to create dynamic, vibrantly coloured, multi-layered compositions characterised by organic shifts in scale and perspective.
Taratoa lives in Mt Maunganui, New Zealand. He works as an artist and educator. Taratoa has been the artist in residence and tutor at Toiohomai Institute of Technology for the last four years, contributing to the Bachelor of Creative Industries programme. He has procured public gallery exhibitions in New Zealand and abroad: Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel, City Gallery Wellington, Christchurch Art Gallery, The Dowse Art Museum, Pataka Art + Museum, Mangere Arts Centre, Te Tuhi, and New Zealand Portrait Gallery. His works are included in public and private collections in New Zealand and overseas.