Peata Larkin
Māmā > < Whenua

Larkin’s practice is an ongoing exploration of the physical properties of paint and materials, whether a pattern of paint is forced through a mesh, applied as pixel-like points on Perspex, cuts in raw linen or as part of a light box. In Māmā > < Whenua the material is raw linen, with cuts carefully incised throughout. The work is always immensely tactile and sculptural – something to be approached from a distance to experience as a slow resolution of overall pattern until it is close enough to be touched, experienced in detail and visually decoded. The effect is always as some kind of matrix of digitally encoded data. They are so present and contemporary, while being timeless and rooted in the continuity of a thousand years. 

Excerpt from Andrew Paul Wood’s essay