Q&A with Neal Palmer
Nov 09 2021
You asked the questions, Neal Palmer answered them.
What is this big beautiful painting?
Tane Moana (Te Araroa) is a 4 panel piece, a tad shy of 2m sq. It’s an image of the largest Kauri on Northland’s east coast. The tree’s name is Tane Moana and it’s on the Te Araroa track near Tutukaka. There is a boardwalk right up to the bottom of the trunk which gives you a great sense of the volume and scale of this significant totem.
What is the largest painting you have made?
I’ve painted several sizable works over the last 20 years, a couple of flax leaf pieces approaching 4m wide and over a meter high. I often use multiple panels to achieve large scale as in this harakeke work pictured with the then Prime Minister (Helen Clark) at an event in 2006. My latest four panel work is of Tane Moana, the largest Kauri on Northland’s east coast. I have a horse fetish and have painted one I particularly liked, slightly larger than life, also in 4 panels. I worked as a mural painter and commercial gilder in the 90s so have worked on a much larger scale, though these are separate from my contemporary body of work.
Who are your artistic hero’s and influences?
It was really interesting coming to NZ not knowing anything about artists here. I think so much of this country’s art is rooted in the land one way or another,
I felt an instant connection even before it became
my home. Initial favourites were Judy Millar, Ralph Hotere, Gordon Walters, Allan Maddox, Richard Killeen, Lisa Reihana and since living here so many great artists I have come to love and respect.
How important is scale to your work?
I find scale very interesting, my work varies in scale from 100mm squares to large multi-panel works the largest of which is nearly 4 meters wide. Scale absolutely changes the way a viewer experiences a work emotionally, in the same way we experience viewing a Kauri as opposed to
a tiny alpine flower. There’s awe with large scale and a jewel-like quality with small scale. I do like to play with these experiences, sometimes subverting them, but generally playing along with classic expectations.
Most noble NZ native plant?
Most noble is easily the Kauri tree, born of the gods! Though my personal favourite is the Harakeke plant, it lends itself perfectly to my ideas of geometric structural composition buried in representative painterly environmental response. Also, it has mana through historic cultural and practical usefulness.
Do you work from photographs?
Yes I love photography, my process starts with taking photographs and the paintings are intentionally trying to blur the distinction between photographic and painterly images.
Petals or leaves?
The work in my latest show includes a couple of Kauri leaf works which I haven’t painted before so I’m very interested in how these are received.
If you could only have a single painting instrument what would it be?
That‘s a very difficult question to answer. I use a large variety of tools to make the marks in my works. If I had to choose I’d probably go for a large calligraphy brush with a very fine tip, to cover large areas yet have the ability to add fine detail.
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