Fatu Feu'u
Kone Fitu, 2007
Macrocarpa, 1720 x 530 x 530mm
Raised in the small village of Poutasi, Western Samoa, Fatu Feu’u was exposed to a range of traditional art forms. Complemented by careers in colour and textile design following his move to New Zealand during the 1960s, Feu’u's practice has grown to convey the importance of the art of Pasifika expressed within a contemporary, fine art context.
Stretching across a variety of media including painting, lithographs, woodcuts, glass, bronze, wood and stone sculptures, Feu’u’s oeuvre is unified by signature motifs drawn from various Polynesian sources as evidenced in Kone Fitu. Over one and a half metres in height, the sculpture consists of seven carved macrocarpa wood totems. Each element is incised with symbols that reference ancient motifs found on tapa and tatau, Lapita pottery and even the analytic cubism of Picasso. Hugely influenced by African and Oceanic art, Picasso’s rejection of naturalistic imagery in favour of geometric, multi-faceted shapes and angles, impressed Feu’u. An amalgam of graphic, stylised patterns, the sculpture’s incisions convey Feu’u’s love of balance, symmetry and repetition.
However, Feu’u’s work encompasses more than the pictorial elements of Pacific and Samoan art by promoting the underlying significance of fa’asamoa. Generally defined as ‘the Samoan way,’ fa’asamoa promotes the religious and cultural values of respect, reverence and love. The artist believes “…fa’asamoa is very much alive and valid in everyday life. To me, art is not just about painting or sculpting. Art is a part of everything we do…something we do with respect.” Fa’asamoa is fundamental to Feu’u’s practice. As Founder/Patron of the Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust, he hopes that ‘…one day Pacific Island art will be well recognised by the Western world for its spiritual value, its meaning to the Pacific people and as a worthwhile contribution to this country, New Zealand.
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Artist Bio
Born in 1946, Fatu Akelei Feu’u, ONZM is a noted Samoan artist. He grew up in the village of Poutasi in the district of Falealili and emigrated to New Zealand in 1966. He has established a reputation as the elder statesman of Pacific art in New Zealand. Feu’u has been an exhibiting artist since the early 1980s and became a full-time artist in 1988.
Feu’u has exhibited in numerous exhibitions in New Zealand and internationally with works in national and private collections worldwide. He has exhibited in solo and major group exhibitions including Samoa Contemporary (2008) at Pataka Art + Museum in Porirua. Feu’u’s work was included in two groundbreaking exhibitions of contemporary Pacific art: Te Moemoea no Iotefa, curated by Rangihiroa Panaho for the Sarjeant Art Gallery in 1990 and Bottled Ocean curated by Jim Viviaeare, which toured New Zealand in 1994-1995.
Feu’u was part of the major group exhibition Le Folauga: the past coming forward – Contemporary Pacific Art from Aotearoa New Zealand, at the Auckland Museum which later toured to Taiwan.
Feu’u works across a range of mediums including painting, bronze, wood and stone sculpture, pottery design, lithographs, woodcuts and glass works. His work is inspired by Polynesian art forms such as siapo (tapa cloth), tatau (tattoo), weaving, carving and ceremonial mask making. In these forms he uses a rich lexicon of motifs and compositional structures. His works frequently blend traditional and contemporary elements, incorporating a range of influences, inspirations, techniques and motifs from Samoa and Aotearoa and more generally from Euro-American to Pacific cultures.
Fa’asamoa is the unifying element of Feu’u’s work. The term fa’asamoa is generally defined as ‘the Samoan way’. The social structure of Samoan society is held together and actively maintained by an adherence to unwritten but understood cultural conventions embodied in fa’asamoa which binds family networks to traditional customs and ceremonies.
Feu’u’s work is included in a number of prestigious national and international collections including the National Gallery, Brisbane; Auckland Art Gallery; Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, Wellington; and Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton. His work is also included in an extensive number of private collections in New Zealand, Australia, United States of America, England, Holland, American Samoa, Samoa and Japan. Feu’u was appointed a Honorary Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2001 New Years Honours List.