Exhibitions » Exhibition Archive » SQUARE2 Archive » Nathan Pohio
Nathan Pohio
6 - 28 August 2011 in the Square² Gallery
Beginning with a blank slate, a darkened screen, Nathan Pohio conjures first just an iris, and then a whole frame of action before letting it all slip from view once more. Drawn from the physical manipulation of a lenticular image in front of the artist's camera, this silent work captures a galleon at sail with all of the attendant atmospherics that could be expected of such a scene.
Playing with our response to depictions of voyages made via Europe's sailing ships of old, Phantom Sea Rider ensnares us visually with a cliché-ridden romantic and sublime aesthetic. Yet, Pohio's deceptively simple work ultimately proves to be a salty invocation of something much more complex.
Here the potential for any well-worn heroic tale of discovery and conquest to be told is cleanly undercut by an awareness of the complicated histories of encounter that emerge when different worlds collide. The clunky animation produced by the artist's deft manipulation of the original lenticular print draws our attention to the overt construction of all images and the narratives they entertain.
Most often glimpsed on domestic walls, in such settings lenticular images are activated by the movements of viewers within the room. As the viewer moves, their altered perspective allows for the presentation of a sequence of different images/frames for their eyes to grasp. The cinematic quality of lenticular prints was the initial drawcard for Pohio and along with this work the artist has also created a number of other moving image works that make use of the shapeshifting potential of such images. Interestingly, positioned as it is in the entrance to City Gallery, this experience of lenticular technology instead demands its viewers to stand still, take stock and carefully consider all that falls within the frame before moving onwards, into the gallery or out into the world at large.
This is the first work in 'Tidelines', a 16 week series of short video works linked by the idea of tidal currents, the waterline and the navigation of history and everyday daily realities.
Artist's Biography
Nathan Pohio
Iwi: Kati Mamoe, Ngai Tahu and Waitaha.
Hapu: Te Hapu O Nga Te Wheke, Te Hapu O Nga Tuahuriri
Nathan Pohio graduated with a BFA from the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts in 1997, Diploma in Digital Video Post Production from The New Zealand Broadcasting School, CPIT 2000. He is an Exhibition Designer at The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu, a Board Member of The Physics Room, a contemporary project space in Christchurch and is currently working toward his MFA in Film from the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts.
Pohio is an artist working in video and other photo-media. Often working with found or gifted materials, within his video and photographic works Pohio frequently deals with subjects related to the history and experience of colonisation, something he considers to be constantly before him as he passes backwards through time into the unknowable future.
Pohio also often employs absurdities sourced from his ‘bi-cultural inheritances of the everyday as indicators of society in Aotearoa New Zealand’. Typically Pohio’s work involves poignant humour, while historic references and practices from cinema are employed to present his ideas.
Nathan Pohio (Kati Mamoe, Ngai Tahu and Waitaha)
7–28 August 2011
Phantom Sea Rider 2009
DVD
Duration: 1min 49sec, looped
Courtesy of the artist and Jonathan Smart Gallery