Tim Melville

Tim Melville is proud to present On the Lam, Christina Pataialii’s first exhibition with the gallery.

In this suite of a dozen paintings in acrylic and house-paint on canvas drop-cloth the artist examines her experience growing up in working class migrant communities in Auckland’s western and central suburbs. Pataialii considers the sense of mobility attached to that experience while at the same time questioning historical notions of ‘single’ cultural identities. On the Lam is an acknowledgement of the complexity of inheritance and collective nostalgia.

Pataialii uses motifs from urban and rural landscapes – rugby posts, picket fences, window curtains, smokestacks and maunga – abstracting and rearranging them to create poised and potent artworks loaded with dynamic formal energy. In a review of Pataialii’s critically acclaimed 2018 exhibition, Solid Gold, at Te Tuhi, ArtAsiaPacific writer Wei Hao Qi described the artist’s imagery as not only highlighting the sociocultural narratives that exclude certain groups, but also as being an exploration of diversity, community and the contemporary politics of nationalism.

Referring to the artist’s technique in a text accompanying the same exhibition, Te Tuhi’s Artistic Director Gabriela Salgado writes: “Pataialii’s palette is both exuberant and restrained. Colour attracts the eye, but unsettles the viewer with unexpected imagery […] A relation to time and movement could recall abstract expressionism, but, while acknowledging the legacy of action painting, Pataialii shies away from the masculine overtones of that movement and the weight of western art history […] Politicised and humorous at once, free gestures such as these dismantle the restrictions held around all traditions.”

Photography: Kallan MacLeod

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
On the Level
2019
acrylic & house paint on canvas drop cloth
765mm H x 765mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
Islands in the Stream
2019
acrylic, spray paint & house paint on canvas drop cloth
765mm H x 765mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
Happy to be Here
2019
acrylic & house paint on canvas drop cloth
765mm H x 765mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
On The Lam
April 2019
Installation View

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
Straight and Narrow
2019
acrylic & house paint on canvas drop cloth
765mm H x 765mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
Looking Up
2019
acrylic & house paint on canvas drop cloth
765mm H x 765mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
Salt of the Earth
2019
acrylic & house paint on canvas drop cloth
765mm H x 765mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
On The Lam
April 2019
Installation View

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
The Stranger
2019
acrylic & house paint on canvas drop cloth
1220mm H x 1220mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
Get Lucky
2019
acrylic & house paint on canvas drop cloth
1220mm H x 1220mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
Backed off the Map
2019
acrylic & house paint on canvas drop cloth
1220mm H x 1220mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
On The Lam
April 2019
Installation View

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
Long Way There (diptych)
2019
acrylic & house paint on canvas drop cloth
1020mm H x 1520mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
Long Way There (diptych)
2019
acrylic & house paint on canvas drop cloth
1020mm H x 1520mm W (install)
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
Ace in the Hole
2019
acrylic & house paint on canvas drop cloth
765mm H x 765mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
On The Lam
April 2019
Installation View

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
On the Lam
2019
acrylic, spray paint & house paint on canvas drop cloth
765mm H x 765mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
Lonesome Loser
2019
acrylic & house paint on canvas drop cloth
765mm H x 765mm W
WALLACE ARTS TRUST COLLECTION

CHRISTINA PATAIALII
On The Lam
April 2019
Installation View

CHRISTINA PATAIALII

On The Lam

CHRISTINA PATAIALII On The Lam