As the first artist in residence for the Livinginpeace project, there were essentially no parameters aside from showing up and seeing what came out. Rongo was a fledgling business, and just how the residency would relate to the rest of the project was in an experimental stage. There was beautiful, big talk, but no one really knew what could be achieved concretely at that point.

Since my stint in Karamea, spanning the three months from November 2004 to January 2005, two other artists have come through and done bigger and better things with their time and talent, and I’m happy that Paul and I didn’t get too carried away straight out the gates, but cautiously explored and discussed what the project could mean for the future of Livinginpeace. We knew we were plotting a course for others to take further. The simple foundations had to be laid before anyone could use them to jump from.

 

So my story is one of inner-exploration and creative planning with Paul during my tenure, where we laid out the basics for the thing to grow and expand the way it has. This is not to say it was a partnership, Paul has always captained his own ship; but I think our musings on what was possible for the project helped him to react to opportunities more quickly, and with certainty. The fact that the two artists that have come after me have taken the “exhibition” concept further to include live painting and art lessons makes me proud; and relieved as well: I can’t have humans anywhere near me when I work, and I wouldn’t have a clue how to teach anyone anything.

 

We thought at the time that, though the turnout would be small, people would catch the fire we were sparking and support the project through the tenure-ending exhibition. It didn’t really go as well as planned, but the lesson was learned, and we had a lot of fun learning it. If you want them to come, you have to offer something relevant to them. The subsequent community-based events seem to have hit the mark.

 

On a personal level, my time there was very rewarding. My style has always been based in certain techniques that get mixed and matched with the patterns, symbols and philosophies that surround me wherever I am in the world, and my New Zealand exposure was an interesting one. It was different from my time in Japan and Europe, because it wasn’t in a country with established aesthetic grandeur as such (though the Maori visual fabric is one of my favourites), but where nature itself provided all the weird and transcendent lines and shapes anyone would need. The work I produced there was a step forward for my technique, and a surprising journey for me, while I watched what the land had inspired dribbling out of my pen. Karamea is markedly different from anywhere else I’ve put the antennas out, and the isolated nature of the place encouraged my own isolated process. The isolation was almost necessary for me though, because there was always something going on at Rongo, and between there and where I was working, in a spare room in Paul’s house, was the pub—which during the day was a hideous temptation, but after a good day’s work, a just dessert.

 

I think what still sticks with me about my experience with Livinginpeace, is that if I were to go back and do it again, it would be a different place on a different level of operation, and I’d put out a different body of work. Such dynamism is in tune with the will of the great magnet. I’d probably still do it hermit style though, and I think what the thing needs now is more extroverted artists to get people involved in their processes. I’m happy to watch.

www.livinginpeace.com

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