Aotearoa Dreaming
Artist Statement:
Aotearoa Dreaming -Peter Donovan
“Folk and pop art , by its very nature, falls outside the art system (establishment). This art is made by people who feel no obligation to established art worlds, but seek to create art rooted in personal experience and life stories. This art is intellectually stimulating and visibly challenging. It represents the heart of the people. Folk and pop art does not follow any prescribed art chronology but leaps in many directions as the artist chooses. Folk artists include Toulouse Lautrec, Rousseau, Picasso, Modigliani, Dali, Roy Lichenstein, Andy Warhol and David Hockney”
My paintings represent the life and times of the people of Hawkes Bay seen through the eyes of one family who lived in the area 1895-2005. The paintings are not concerned with colonization rather individuals, (human beings), and their ability to maintain their pride, their integrity and their spirituality during a turbulent period of history. Folk art is international.
Peter Donovan 2020.
Molly Alexander at Waikoko,
Oil on canvas
SOLD
Molly Alexander was burn at Waikoko gardens. Her father William Alexander Managed the Tomoana freezing works on behalf of lot Vesty, who was an Aristocrat from The UK. Molly Alexander was the hostess of the garden parties which occurred on a regular basis. These garden parties were thrown for the farmers who were clients of the freezing works.
Hawkes Bay Red Shed
Oil on Canvas
This shed stood in Maraekakaho Road near the Bridge Pa roundabout. It has recently been demolished. My recently arrived, in NZ, grandfather, secured his first job on the station as a groomsman. He is the male in the painting. My Mother, the female in the painting represents the next generation and I am representing the next generation with the magpie. The family arrived in Hawkes Bay in 1890 and left in 2006. I attempted a winter painting with a hoar frost melting in the early morning sun.
Now is the Hour
Oil on Canvas
A tribute to those men of C Company Maori Battalion who served honourably during World War II.
George Nepia
Oil on tin tray
SOLD
Terry McLean rugby writer –”if genius could be described as the power of light shinning through the gloom then Nepia was the light”. He was a legend, mystical, wonderful. He was the man who became rightly or wrongly the personification of his period
Napier Poster Painting
Oil on Canvas
SOLD
This painting is a tribute to the resourceful nature and quality of the people who rebuilt the city after the 1931 earthquake.
Railcar South of Takapau
Oil on canvas
I was driving on the Takapau Plains, heading North. Looking up to my right I saw the railcar heading south and I knew that was the painting.
Aotearoa Dreaming
Oil on canvas
Being on your own in London on Christmas Day in the snow and thinking about Waimarama
Molly Alexander
Oil on canvas
KR Tremain
Oil on Canvas
SOLD
Captained the 1960’s Hawkes Bay shield side. Led by example. Truly great player. Never left the field. When the chips were down he was always there. Devastating ball in hand.
Hawkes Bay Rat of Tobruk
Oil on Canvas
No longer in The Rabbit Room
Born Maraekakaho and largely self-taught, finished school aged 12. Living in Sydney at the outbreak of World War II. Served months at Trobruk with AIF, only Kiwi to do so. Returned 1943 to Hastings, died 1993 aged 85.
Brownlee Bros
Oil on canvas paper
No longer in The Rabbit Room
The Brownlee Bros were part of the ‘Invincible’ 1924 All-Blacks who toured Britain undefeated. They were also part of the historic Hawkes Bay side of the 1920’s an era regarded as the golden age of rugby. Maurice, captain of the Hawkes Bay team was regarded as the greatest player of his era. Cyril, a World War I veteran was famous for being sent off at Twinkenham, a dubious call.
Rita Angus
Oil on Canvas
SOLD
Rita Angus-she was born in Hastings like me. I saw in the Dom Post that she was judged to have been awarded top NZ painting ‘Cass’ of the rural South Island railway station. My painting is a tribute to her success.