John Pule

b. 1962, Niue
Lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand and Niue

John Pule is an accomplished painter, printmaker, poet and writer. He was born in the village of Liku in Niue, and he immigrated to New Zealand at the age of two in 1964. Largely self-taught, he first exhibited his paintings in 1989 and has exhibited extensively since. His work has generated considerable acclaim within Aotearoa and further abroad.

When John Pule first arrived in inner city Auckland as a young adult in 1980, the formal tenets of poetry and painting were largely unknown to him. Over the next 30 years, he would explore new directions as both writer and painter. He has since developed a reputation as one of this country’s leading contemporary painters and an important artistic voice from the broader Pacific region. His work is highly inventive, particularly in its adaptation of traditional Pacific art forms. It sometimes includes challenging and provocative content related to colonisation.

Pule first visited Niue as an adult in 1991 and has since returned to the island nation to live and work. His strong interest in the mythology, culture, and history of the country of his birth continues to inform his work to this day. This is evident in the artist’s image content and choice of materials. His paintings and prints often depict flora and fauna from Niue and make use of customary approaches to patternmaking. Pule has also created a number of works on tapa cloth, a traditional material in Niue and other Pacific nations.

Arguably one of the Pacific’s most significant artists, Pule has been at the forefront of contemporary New Zealand art since the early 1990s. His work is held in major public collections throughout Australasia including Auckland Art Gallery, Te Papa Tongarewa, The National Gallery of Victoria, and Queensland Art Gallery. His career highlights include a survey exhibition at the City Gallery Wellington (2010) and inclusion in exhibitions at Museo de Atre Contemporaneo, Santiago, Chile (2012), Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2011) and the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin (2007). Pule’s work is the subject of several books including the monograph Hauaga (Otago University Press, 2010). He is also a published writer and poet. He was the recipient of the New Zealand Order of Merit for the services to the Arts in 2012.

Gow Langsford Gallery has represented John Pule since 1994.