Wayne Youle | From Then Till Now: {Suite} Wellington
If Wayne Youle hadn’t been an artist, he would have been an archaeologist. He has a love ofthe past, of digging things up in the ground and discovering. His cut out sculptures - composed of individual parts of powder-coated aluminium - act as multi-faceted self portraits, reflections of alter-egos or alternative lives, but also celebrations of the fruits of his artistic labour.
In Pipe & Smoke (2021), the Moai figure from Easter Island on the left hand side of the cut-out is totemic in scale, representing Wayne’s interest in archaeology. The basket and gourd traditionally vessels for collecting fruit and water, some of the basic elements of life, but also represent the fruits of Wayne’s labour, the conclusion to a very productive 18 months of production and creating work for various exhibitions. The mere and koru pattern are an acknowledgement of Wayne's Maori roots, found items of taonga that also contribute to the masculine feel to the sculpture as does the pipe whichis a nod to his own father who smoked a pipe at night to relax, a fond childhood memorywhich has stayed with him through the years.
All said and done, then done again (2021) explores the cyclic nature of colonisation. This recursive process of settling, controlling and appropriating that has occurred across the globe and across human history is hinted at by Youle with the inclusion of a well-fed snake which traverses the composition. In the context of Aotearoa, 'All said and done' symbolizes the coming of the Europeans, depicting a ship surrounded by an array of loaded imagery: nautical flags, a cannon ball, a teardrop and a sliver of land sequestered in the lower left corner. The arrangement is buttressed by two stern and authoritative European pillars, and dominated by a Moby-Dick sized octopus.
As fortunes would have it (2021) pays homage to some of the women artists who have influenced Wayne throughout his artistic career: A Georgia O’keefe skull, Louise Bourgeois flowers, Kara Walker sugar baby, Yaoi Kusama pumpkin & Rita Angus seahorse (Wayne also had a similar seahorse soft toy when he was young). Flourishing from the basket held by sugar baby is a butterfly, a symbol of growth and freedom.
