Ioane Ioane

Ioane Ioane (born 1962 in Christchurch) is a New Zealand artist of Samoan descent. His work is informed by his Samoan heritage and includes performance, film, painting, installation and sculpture.^[1] In conversation about his work Fale Sā with art historian Caroline Vercoe, Ioane states, Sacred places are not necessarily a church, but it's a place where one likes to be in, a place of affirmation.^[2] Curator Ron Brownson writes, Ioane's attitude to sculptural process is cosmological – his carvings bind present reality with a representation of the past.^[1]: 43

Fale Sā (1999), a sculpture by Ioane on display at the Auckland Art Gallery in 2025

In 2005 Ioane won the Creative New Zealand Pacific Innovation and Excellence Art Award.^[3] In 2009 Whangarei Art Museum presented the first major survey of Ioane’s work, John Ioane – Journeyman Artist and the Pacific Paradox: A 25 Year Selective Survey Exhibition, curated by Museum Director, Scott Pothan.^[4]

His work is held in both private and public collections, including the Auckland Art Gallery; the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa; University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, England; the National University of Samoa; the Tjibaou Cultural Centre, Nouméa, New Caledonia; the Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland; and the University of Auckland Art Collection.^[5][6][7]

Education

In 1985 Ioane received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts at Auckland University.^[7] In 1986 he earned a diploma in teaching from the Auckland College of Education. In 1996 he received a post graduate diploma in fine arts from Elam.^[8]

Selected exhibitions

• 2015 Te Wā Tōiri: Fluid Horizon Auckland Art Gallery^[9]
• 2013 Mannequin, Lopdell House Gallery^[10]
• 2012 Home AKL, Auckland Art Gallery^[1]
• 2012 I will sea you in Hawaiki Mangere Arts Centre, Nga Tohu O Uenuku^[11]
• 2012 Poly Wants a Cracker, City Gallery Wellington.^[7]
• 2009 John Ioane: journeyman artist and the Pacific paradox : a 25 year selective survey, Whangarei Art Museum.^[12]
• 2008 Samoan Contemporary, Pataka Art + Museum, Porirua.^[1]
• 2008 Te Tataitanga / Bind Together, Southwest School of Art & Craft, San Antonio, Texas, USA^[10]
• 2007 Le Folauga Auckland War Memorial Museum^[13]
• 2006 Pasifika Styles, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge^[1]
• 2004 Paradise Now? Contemporary Art from the Pacific, Asia Society Museum, New York ^[8]
• 2002 Pacific Notion, Whitespace Gallery Auckland^[14]
• 1999 Fale Sā Auckland Art Gallery.^[15]
• 1992 Bottled Ocean, Auckland Art Gallery
• 1990 Te Moemoea no Iotefa, Sarjeant Art Gallery, Whanganui.
• 1990 3 Polynesian Artists, McDougall Art Annex Christchurch