New-Caledonian painting

Gauguin slept here! Yes, in fact he did, on his way to Tahiti and perhaps somewhere in an attic one day one of his Caledonian paintings will be found.

Since Gaunguin’s time, French painters have represented New-Caledonia as a place of exotic landscapes and picturesque Melanesians, but the reality of the island is more subtle and more complex.

Traditional kanak art is sculpture. Painting is relatively new. Little by little the artists of this island are creating a tradition which expresses their perception of a multi-cultural society.

Here are 8 artists, belonging to different ethnic groups, who are showing 8 different points of view.

New-Caledonia is an island. The danger of living on an island is that cultural events take place among the “Happy Few” and there is no wider view-point. The aim of this exhibition is to present the work of 8 caledonian painters of different ages and belonging to different ethnic groups: their work to be shown in a different context and to a different public.

Each of the artists exhibiting has had formal training, either in Europe or Australia, each is professionally engaged in the cultural life of New-Caledonia and each brings to the expression of their perception a contemporary approach – which is not necessarily abstract!