Wave of

Art

new

art in Suva

By Pauline Walker

both technical explorations and self-dis coveries by young people at the beginning of their artistic careers. The operator of a large tourist resort in Yasawa wanted to buy all twelve outright, but they were not for sale. They constitute part of the grow ing archive of creativity that Oceania Centre is generating under the directorship of Professor Epeli Hau’ofa.

“Red Wave” - a literal translation of the Tongan phrase peau kula and Fijian biaukula - may suggest the rise and swell of a tidal wave. It has the sense of a momentous happening. Apart from the stunning display, a momentous thing is

happening here: namely the opening of

windows (and ultimately doors) for young artists, none of whom had ever painted on canvas before. And a door indeed opened for the “Red Wave” artists. It is a large, handsome door - their first commission.

Since he could not buy the dozen paint ings exhibited at Oceania Centre, Garth Downey, owner of Fiji’s Yasawa Island Resort, has commissioned a whole new set. He has contracted, through John Pule who conducted the free two-week

Multimedia Art Workshop, for ten young artists to produce forty works on paper, three on one-metre-square canvases, and one gigantic canvas three metres square for his resort. Eight artists will each paint five works on paper, and Delia Xie will do the three one-metre paintings on canvas.

Josua Toganivalu will take a three metre-square canvas to Yasawa and work on site. The canvas is to be mounted on a wall, becoming a permanent fixture of the resort. The total value of this contract is $15,980. In addition to a two-week holiday at the resort, each artist will receive over $lOOO, the exact amount depending on the number and size of paintings he or she pro duces.

“They are extremely lucky to get a commission this size so early,” John Pule commented. “It shows the confidence Garth has in these young artists. And he wants to support them, which is a very

good sign.”

These young people were given a new voice, or, more precisely, have begun to find their own voices. Fiji and the region will certainly hear more from them. ■

Taller than most people

looking at them, and too heavy to be hung, twelve two-metre-square paint ings leaned against the walls of the exhibition space. Diverse in design but sharing a common palette of earth colours, the impressive display of huge canvases constituted the “first fruits” of a group of remarkable young artists.

This was “Red Wave: An Exhibition of Contemporary Oceanic Art”, presented recently on the Suva campus of the University of the South Pacific by its Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture.

The twelve artists, ranging in age from 18 to 27, all live in Suva now but come from various backgrounds - Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, even one from China. All had par ticipated in a two-week art workshop at Oceania Centre, leading up to this exhibi tion. Using only three colours - burnt amber, burnt sienna and ivory black - the artists drew on their own personal and cul tural histories to create new images and symbols. The paintings therefore record

Jusua Toganivalu with “The Power of Love”.