How does Art Influence People?

For me, art isn’t necessarily just what I see or hear, although both are contributing factors. It's what I feel, when the art connects with my senses. 

Many people buy art because it reminds them of something. And the connection awakens within. 

Darcy Nicolas’s paintings are a good example of evoking my senses and feelings. 

Darcy was the first artist who helped me connect with and understand wairua. His 1980s and early 90s paintings had a beautiful dark depth, in which ghost saints or shadow-selves revealed themselves.  His work described what I felt and evoked an unusual sense of familiarity.

My first epiphany art moment was when I saw a Darcy Nicolas painting in the flesh. Shout outs to my fellow Whitireia Art College classmate Nestor Opetaia, our eyes landed on the Darcy painting in unison, respective jaws dropped.

Art Buyers

I think you can tell a lot about a person through art in their homes.  Often those who are considered sensitive or empathic have beautiful and well-connected art.  Whereas the super wealthy collect art to reflect quantity investment. But don’t necessarily have any connection to the art other than it's monetary value. 

If you’d like to purchase art, try reaching out to artists directly to form a connection. See why here. Search local artists online. Tell them a budget, your brief; what you’d like and why, and where you'd like to hang it.  Most artists act intuitively as a conduit between senses and creation and will magic up something you will love.

Difference between Prints and Paintings

Artists often sell prints of their paintings as supplementary income.  Prints are essentially paper copies, mostly with large print runs - so they don’t really have any value.  There are some exceptions though.  Such as an AP (Artists Proof) or EV (Edition Variable) or a woodblock print on genuine Tapa cloth. 

You can find more information about prints here next to the artists’ profiles.  I’ve only ever purchased two woodblock prints, both by Robyn Kahukiwa, both second hand. But I also have a stunning Caroline Beaufort who painted into her prints, and a Solomon Daniel Pacifica woodblock print on beautiful handmade paper.  

Artist Copyright

Please remember that even though you may have purchased a painting or artwork, you do not own redistribution rights; the artist always retains the copyright.  This means you cannot reproduce the the art.

For example; if you own an original painting. Of course you can sell the painting.   But the artist will own any creative, reproductive and all copyright rights of the painting - forever. 

Māori Art and Whakapapa 

Many artists still copy and culturally misappropriate Māori art, without the tikanga or understanding of what the Koru and patterns mean.

Māori patterns tell stories of different tribal histories.  Which have been passed down through many, many generations and hold deep spiritual and ancestral meaning for Māori.

Please don’t copy Maori art, it’s considered tapu and not a nice thing to do.

Ask about provenance and cultural significance before buying, and ensure it has been created by a Te Ao Māori artist. 

Māori have had too much stolen already, it’s not ok to steal their art too. 

Artistic Genealogy

Everybody has their own cultural identity. It’s up to us all to do our own mahi around our whakapapa and claim our own heritage – especially as artists.

Understanding who you are, and where you descend from is Kaupapa for all artists. My paintings represent who I am.  An artist cannot know who they are without knowing where they've come from.

I was adopted and it took DNA testing and many years of my own research to discover my whakapapa / genealogy.  Through this process I gained a new sense of identity and belonging. I am 23rd generation descendant of King Robert the Bruce. Notably, the ‘King of Scots’ - not the king of the land.  He was last king of Scotland to successfully fight off the colonising english. 

I support the Scottish Treaty, the Declaration of Arbroath.  Alba gu bràth.

I support the Treaty of Waitangi, Te Tiriti. Ake ake ake.