From Rotterdam to Rotorua

Abstract

'Just after WWII, in a cave on the banks of the Opihi River north of Timaru in South Canterbury, the Dutch emigre artist Theo Schoon initiated a conversation that changed the direction of New Zealand art. In those damp South Island caves, described by Schoon as "New Zealand's oldest art galleries" two young artists came to the realisation that the centuries old taniwha drawings were the key to creating a daring new chapter in the art of Aotearoa.'