Omapere

Kirirua 

Te Awanga

Motuihe

Motutapu

Ponui 

Houhora

Canto ii

Onepoto

Pikarere

Adams Island

Ahipara

Hauraki II

Hauraki II: Panel 3

Hauraki II: Panel 1

Hauraki II: Panel 2

Adams Island shows details from a LINZ marine chart of Auckland and Adams Islands. The collaged images are taken from miniatures found in The Yeats Thompson manuscript of Dante's Divine Comedia, located in the digital collection of the British library.
​
​The man lying in the flax with is taken from the miniature of Dante and Apollo before Parnassus. It has personal resonance from my own life. The centaur holding the arrow in his fist up at the Compass, has been taken from the miniature of Dante and Virgil's encounter with a centaur and a lake of boiling blood in which are submerged Attila and other tyrants, in illustration of Canto XXII. In the lower right of the painting this scene has been reinterpreted on the coast of Adams Island.”

Adams island

Repanga

Hauraki II: Panel 5

Okakari

Hauraki II: Panel 4

is a magisterial nine panel painting set across The Cook Straight - from Arapawa Island & the Marlborough Sounds, through to Wellington Harbour & the Wainuiomata coast line. The work combines Roger’s interest in theatre, literature, Jungian psychology, New Zealand history and cartograph. Like much of Roger’s recent work, the painting is also work is in part, inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy - and emphatically embraces a ‘medieval style’, set against a backdrop of old marine charts. Despite this surreal juxtaposition of ancient imagery, the themes of these works are universal, timeless and current - replete with allusions to political and social issues of our time.

navigates Mortimer’s connection to local history, as well as a growing sense of and global unease, which affects each of us individually and collectively. In this way - as an artist - he traverses us through these anxious times by confronting them - depicting characters that sail around the wind battered coast line of Pikarere (Cook Strait), which also symbolise the unconscious mind, where darkness lies waiting for light. Troubled figures, tortured souls and mythical creatures populate Mortimer’s dreamlike spaces, re-enacting the humour and horror of Dante’s well-formed concepts. Mortimer’s local presentation and re-shaping of these concepts, speak to the socio-political issues of this land, as well as the turbulence and complexity of living in a post-globalised world.

 exposes a much larger historical narrative - grounded within a national context - giving it the power to pull viewers out of their myopic screen worlds to consider the state of Aotearoa. There is no clean green depiction of our nation; it is figuratively bare with dramaturgical figures that use it as a stage for a theatrical journey into the unknown psyche of these troubling times. Gilded with Maori place names and cartographic lines and numeric references, 

grounds the viewer in New Zealand history, adding a significant chapter to a history of painting that began in the ancient caves on rock and was complicated by the hopeful sketches of Charles Heaphy.

Mortimer chooses to paint maps, which are tools for location. A map provides a space within which to locate yourself and to establish connections with your surroundings. It’s a way to identify a place, and to identify yourself in relation to other points, or points of view. While referencing a collective history, Mortimer’s map paintings invite a personal response, but more than that, they demand an investment from the viewer. Like maps, these paintings cannot be viewed in a glance. It takes time to take them in. As stories, they are innately personal, yet universal. Yes, they are his stories, but they are also ours: mine and yours”

Canto ii- detail

 is a phenomenal project Mortimer has been working on for the last year. This tapestry is the third of its kind for the artist and a natural progression of his practice. Mortimer’s elegant hand, signature palette and inky watercolour washes are masterfully translated into the surface of the woven threads, making reference to his painting practice. Yet, Mortimer’s mythmaking here is transformed by the materiality of its medium his figures now literally woven into their setting, appear as theatrical tableau, whose compelling stories address the warp and weft of our present realities.

Mortimer’s most recent work draws specifically from the 14th-century epic 

, in which the author journeys deep into the nine circles of hell, and re-emerges through purgatory and on to heaven. Graphic imagery lifted from illustrated medieval manuscripts is set against a familiar backdrop of local nautical charts, which guide us – with their markings and warnings – through Mortimer’s enigmatic and fantastical landscapes. Troubled figures, tortured souls and mythical creatures populate these dreamlike spaces, re-enacting the humour and horror of Dante’s well-formed concepts. Much like the poem itself, Mortimer’s paintings are cloaked in symbolism and metaphor which reflect the universal struggle of the human condition, and hope of redemption. Mortimer’s local presentation and re-shaping of these concepts, speak to the socio-political issues of this land, and to a growing sense of global unease.

Mortimer’s work is made possible through the contemporary practice of digitising archives. He scrolls through medieval manuscripts and old marine maps of Aotearoa piecing together the puzzle of his, and our existence. His process is a blend of old world and new: a digital-cum-analogue cut and paste technique which involves digitally collaging compositional elements together then rendering the imagined narrative in precisely painted details with the care and precision of a monk illuminating a manuscript. It is notable in this new work that the compass, landmarks and figures which inhabit Mortimer’s map of the Tauranga Bay area are cropped by the edge of the frame (where they have previously been contained). Figures, events and narrative now extend out from the canvas, as if to suggest these locally grounded scenes are part of a much larger story, which can’t be viewed from a single perspective or any one moment in time. 

As an island, the ocean defines us. We are surrounded by water; pushing in on all sides, carving out our landscape, sanding the edges smooth. Where ocean and land meet, they inform and feed each other simultaneously, bound together in an eternal relationship of give and take. Where moana and whenua overlap is a place of meeting and interaction; a place in which offerings are left and taken, a place of exchange. [1]. 

A drive to understand Māori perspectives has been part of Roger's practice since he first entered Elam School of Fine Arts and went through the Te Toi Hou (Maori Arts) programme. His work has always 'looked to the past to approach the future' to paraphrase the famous whakataukī (Māori proverb). In acknowledgement of prior occupation of Aoteroa, Roger has removed European place names from his 'maps' and left the Māori names, some well-known, others marking lesser known places, mountains, rivers and events. Speaking at the Auckland Art Fair about Roger's work, Linda Tyler observed: '

that in referencing the country's dual histories and bringing together European painting with Maori history, without appropriation or borrowing of symbolism, Roger can be seen to be ahead of his time in using Māori place names as titles, he also emphasises the local

Mortimer's works have been described as "

" [2] which represent his search for a personal cosmology to make sense of global turbulence. As viewers, we are drawn into our own quest to interpret the symbols, signs and mythology of his intriguing maps of enigmatic landscapes - “

radiant objects that exude a sort of misty field, rather than be just vehicles for telling dreamy stories

As an Island - Navigating the Work of Roger Mortimer

Otūmoetai

& Andrea Bolima - installation

Tāmaki 

Tāmaki- installation at Aotearoa Art Fair 2023

Rakiura 

Tāmaki

 Piopio

Waihua

Otonga 

Roger Mortimer was born in Mangakino, New Zealand in 1956. Since graduating with a BFA from Elam School of Fine Arts in 1999, Mortimer has exhibited regularly in Auckland and Wellington. His work was included in the Artspace shows Flesh and Fruity and After Killeen (2001) in Auckland, Portraiture (2003) at Te Tuhi, Pakuranga, and High Chair (2005) at ST PAUL St Gallery, Auckland.

In 2014 he was the Paramount winner of the Wallace Art Awards and subsequently spent six months at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York. His work is included in public and private collections in New Zealand, Australia and France. Roger Mortimer currently lives and works in Auckland.

Mortimer is interested in the nature of attachment in the psychological sense. When this fundamental relational need is disrupted, it generates conflict, adaptive behavior and intense suffering. His paintings explore these themes and have been described as “

an allegorical scrambling of time and geography, that pushes at the limits of the human imagination

” [1], giving rise to a dense layering of colliding or intertwined worlds and systems. In Mortimer’s fantastical landscapes and watery coasts, people and creatures enact dynamic vignettes of horror and suffering, as well as the possibility of transformation

 Winterfall 

Roadside Landscape / Moutere Highway (iii)

Roadside Landscape / Moutere Highway (ii)

Roadside Landscape / Moutere Highway (i)

Split Field with Hanging Sky (At Moutere)

Backlit Landscape at Takaka

 Small Gradient

Devil’s Thumb

Untitled Roadside Landscape  

Blue Magenta Gradient 

Forest

Even Now (1)

Even Now (2)

Small Blue Gradient

Untitled Purple Gradient

Ridgeway/ Pigeon Valley (2)

Pale Blue Gradient

Untitled Road Landscape

Backlit Scrubland / Evening 

Blue Velvet Gradient

White Line/ Sunday Morning

Untitled Landscape at Moutere

Night Gradient

Untitled/ At Maungatapu

Every Valley

Untitled Roadside Landscape

Sunday Morning

Backlit Scrubland

Falling Green 

Blue Magenta Gradient  

Untitled Landscape/Night Descending

Soft Split Gradient installation

Velvet Night i

Sunday Morning - installation

Even Now (2023)

installation. 

Installation 

Installation - Material Object

Soft Split Gradient 2 (2023)

Soft Split Gradient 5 (2023)

Soft Split Gradient 3 (2023)

Even Now

Soft Split Gradient 4 (2023)

Soft Split Gradient 7 (2023)

Blue/Purple Gradient

Wall Drawing

Untitled Backlit Landscape 

Even Now 

Endless Days- The Suter Gallery

Ridgeway/ Pigeon Valley (1)

Soft Split Gradient 

Purple Gradient Drawing

Velvet Night i ( 2023)

 Velvet Night ii ( 2023)

Soft Split Gradient Drawing #1

Sunday Morning exhibition- installation

Untitled Roadside Landscape 

Installation- Aotearoa Art Fair 2023

Soft Split Gradient Drawing #2

Even Now 2

Soft Split Gradient

Untitled Backlit Landscape

Backlit Scrubland 

Untitled/Landscape at Moutere i

Untitled/Landscape at Valley Road

Backlit Scrubland / Evening  

Falling Green  

Michael Dell

Like A Bell Under Water 

Sublime perfection, or something like it

Vailed in knowledge , 2024

The loss of knowing VI

 The loss of knowing I  

  Unknown IV

Totem for something other

Unknown IV

In Leaning 

In Stillness

In Moonlight

And it Held on Until it Let Go

And the Moon Conversed with the Sea

Grasping at Air and the Search for Something Else

In Thought

In Holding 

In Standing 

In Turning 

In Falling

In Awe

All At Once

The loss of knowing VII

Making sense of the Mountains 

Loss IIII

In Ending

Like a Bell under Water 

In Holding

Loss X

Unknown II

Making sense of the Mountains

In Leaning

In Standing

Wait

Making sense of Mountains

Unknown

 The loss of knowing V 

The loss of knowing IX

Entries To Nowhere 

Lottie Consalvo

Tauhei Bunker X 

Greywacke Bunker XVIII

Tauhei Bunker XIV 

Tauhei bunker XI 

Osterns Bunker 49  

Parliament House Structure I

Chauncey Flay & Lætitia Jacquetton  |   Diapir ii I  

Chauncey Flay & Lætitia Jacquetton | Diapir XI   

Tauhei Bunker 2 

Chauncey Flay & Lætitia Jacquetton |  Diapir VIII I   

Coralscape (Honeycomb Coral Rarotonga) 

Chauncey Flay

Roger Mortimer

Föenander Galleries is presenting a series of new works by

Lottie Consalvo
Chauncey Flay
Michael Dell
Roger Mortimer

Each of these contemporary practitioners are renowned for their exceptional skill and conceptual prowess. While their practices are diverse, themes in the work proposed work for the fair will explore – the human psyche, imagination, dreams, memory and their place in the real, with each artist in their own way, investigating the human connection to nature, desire, longing, loss and the ungraspable

Aotearoa Art Fair 2023

 is comprised of four beautiful jewel like paintings, which are exhibited alongside Roger’s largest work to date – a 7.5 meter jacquard weaving.

The four smaller paintings, despite their relative size to the giant weaving hold their own in its presence. These beautifully painted works are radiant objects that exude the brilliance of a misty light, giving these paintings real depth – both illusionistically and conceptually. Inky washes of watercolour and rubbed gold dust have been carefully built up in translucent layers, so not to lose the delicate hand of Roger’s initial line work, which is reminiscent of the intricacy & perspective of Persian miniatures and Japanese prints.

The paintings are all set on small islands within the Hauraki Gulf and the scenes represented at these locations are typically overrun with illuminations and happenings from medieval manuscripts of Dante’s 

. Unusually for Mortimer’s work, the chaotic disorder and violence of Dante’s narrative is softened in these smaller works – which are all bloodless, without gore and overt gratuity. That said, it is perhaps notable with the intensity of Mortimer’s new palette, it is now the earth-red soil of the land which drips and bleeds into the ocean, while the washes and drips of the phthalo blue skies seem to almost weep onto the scenes below.

“The image is revealed in parts, emerging from each detail. Smaller details are visible at first. There are many unique features within these images. The eyes flit from one object to another, like the movement of a pīwakawaka. Most of the symbols are drawn from Dante’s poem 

, from Italy, from Europe. Secondly, the viewer begins to see more details from New Zealand. Perhaps, it is possible to recognise the form of the land, from Muriwai to the west on the left side of the image, to the eastern side of the Hauraki on the right side. It is possible to see Māori names, proper names, of places: some common names, some unfamiliar ones.

The experience of seeing this work of art in the physical world is truly awe-inspiring on account of its sheer size. The images are divided across five panels, and the total width of the artwork is seven and a half meters. In the creation of this masterpiece, Mortimer has experimented with several new processes. This work of art represents a broadening of his artistic practice – and also a departure. In this context, the original paintings operate as models or maquettes for larger finished works, the paintings half the size of the woven panels.

The process of creating these new images represents an extension of Mortimer’s artistic process. He is no stranger to the digital medium, but this process is new. To begin with, Mortimer paints on canvas – a special primer on the bottom, then watercolour pigment on top. Because of the nature of the paint used, the drops drip down the canvas, achieving a painterly quality. To prepare these images for the digital process, Mortimer limits his selection to three colours. Once completed, the paintings are photographed and the image file is reworked on the computer and then sent to the textile specialist, who then weaves Mortimer’s paintings into the fabric using a process known as Jacquard weaving.

Throughout his career, Mortimer has sought answers to these important questions – How is Pākehā identity defined in New Zealand? What are some of the characteristic of the emergence of a distinct style or movement of Pākehā art? Mortimer’s work can be described as a confluence; to use a Māori metaphor – ‘he tai whatiwhati rua’, a meeting of two ideas: of Pākehā genealogy and knowledge (from the whakapapa of artist), and the whakapapa and mātauranga of this country here, the place of Mortimer’s birth and his life. Perhaps that is the essence of his work as a European artist working in New Zealand”.

“Ka whakakitea te ahua i ngā wāhanga, putaputa mai i tēnā taipitopito. Ka kitea ngā taipitopito iti iho i te tuatahi, ngā āhuatanga motuhake kei roto i ēnei mahi toi. Ka tītakataka ngā karu mai i tētahi mea ki tētahi atu mea, pēnei te neke o te tīrairaka. Ko te nuinga o ngā waitohu ka takea mai i te rotarota a Dante a 

, nō Itaria, nō Ūropi. I te tuarua, ka tīmata te mahi toi ki te whakaatu i ētahi atu taipitopito mai i Aotearoa. Tērā pea, ka taea te āhukahuka i te auaha o te whenua: mai i Muriwai ki te uru, ki te taha mauī o te mātātuhi, ki te taha rāwhiti o Te Tara-O-Te-Ika-A-Māui ki te taha matau. Ka taea te kite i ngā ingoa Māori, ngā ingoa tika, o ngā wāhi: ētahi ingoa noa, ētahi ingoa tauhou.

He tino wewehi te wheako o te kite i tēnei mahi toi i te ao kikokiko nā te rahi i ēnei. Kua whakainatitia ngā whakaahua ki ngā pānui e rima, ā ko te whanui katoa o ngā mahi toi e ono ngā mita. I te hanga o tēnei mea nui, kua whakamātau a Mortimer i ētahi hātepe hou. Ko tēnei mahi toi he tohu mā te whakawhanui o āna whakaharatau toi – me te wehetanga hoki. I tēnei horopaki, ko āna peita taketake hei tauira mā ngā mahi nunui kua oti – ko te nui o ngā peita, he haurua te nui o ngā paewhiri raranga.

Ko te hātepe o te hanga o ēnei whakaahua hou, he tohu mā te whakawhanui o te hātepe toi a Mortimer. Ehara ia i te waewae tapu ki ngā rawatoi matihiko, engari, he hou tēnei hātepe. Ki te tīmata, ka peita a Mortimer ki runga i ngā kānawehi – ko te peita kiriwai motuhake ki raro, kātahi ka te peita waikano ki runga. Nā te āhua o te peita i whakamahi ai, ka māturuturu ngā pata ki raro i te kānawehi, ka whakatutukia te āhuatanga peita. Hei whakarite i ēnei whakaahua mā te hātepe matihiko, ka whakawhāitihia e Mortimer āna tīpako ki ngā tae e toru. Ka oti ēnei mahi, ka whakaahuahia ngā peita, ka rāwekeweke ngā kōnae ata, ka tukuna ki te kaihanga kakano, kātahi ka rānga ngā peita a Mortimer e te kaihanga i te papanga mā te hātepe i te tikanga e kīa nei ko te rāranga Jacquard.

Mā te katoa o tāna umanga, kua whai a Mortimer i ngā whakautu ki ēnei pātai whakahirahira – he aha te tuakiri Pākehā kei Aotearoa? He aha ētahi āhuatanga kōhure o te puta mai o te tāera kōhure, o te rangatohe rānei, o ngā toi a te Pākehā? Ka taea te whakaahua te mahitoi a Mortimer hei komititanga; ki te whakamahi i tētahi kupu whakarite Māori – koinei he tai whatiwhati rua, he tūtakitanga o ngā whakaaro e rua: o te whakapapa me te mātauranga Pākehā (mai i te whakapapa o te ringatoi), me te whakapapa me te mātauranga o tēnei whenua ki kōnei, te wāhi o te whānau mai me te oranga a Mortimer. Tērā pea koirā te ngako o tāna mahi hei ringatoi Pākehā e mahi nei ki Aotearoa”.

Föenander Galleries | Auckland

Roger Mortimer