
Watch: Tony Fomison at work
See rare footage of Tony Fomison at work, captured on glorious Super 8 by New Zealand experimental film-maker Martin Rumsby.
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Open every day 10am-6pm
(except Christmas Day)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
An exhibition of Tony Fomison’s paintings, featuring monsters, misfits, and medical deformities that explores what it means to be an outsider.
18 Aug – 4 Nov 2018
Toi Art, Level 4
Free entry
wheelchair accessible
In the late 1960s, dark things began to emerge from Tony Fomison’s paintings. His monsters, misfits, and medical deformities challenged polite society, and explored what it means to be an outsider.
This was a particularly troubled period in Fomison’s life. He had just returned to Christchurch from travels in Europe and was broke, grappling with drug addiction, and cynical about society.
Yet the humanity of his grotesque paintings resonated profoundly with many – making him one of the most important New Zealand painters of his generation.
Tony Fomison: Lost in the Dark is a collaboration between Wellington High School students and Te Papa.
Students workshopped the theme of ‘otherness’ in Fomison’s work, which helped shape our creative approach.
Tony Fomison: Lost in the Dark is a collaboration between Wellington High School students and Te Papa.
Students workshopped the theme of ‘otherness’ in Fomison’s work, which helped shape our creative approach. They also designed a response wall – so you can share your own thoughts about Fomison’s paintings in the exhibition space.
See rare footage of Tony Fomison at work, captured on glorious Super 8 by New Zealand experimental film-maker Martin Rumsby.
“I think much of what he paints is an expression of feelings too big for your body. He makes these things that impress upon you from the outside. That can feel better than something emerging from the inside, because there is nowhere to go if something’s inside of you.”
‘Tony Fomison: Lost in the Dark’ is co-created with students from Wellington High School, which involved working together across a number of creative sessions. Here, Experience Designer Chloe Johnston channels her inner teen.
“I still kinda hate the way that they look, but I really enjoy the way that they make me think.”
From Te Papa’s art collection comes a dynamic exhibition across five galleries. The art works here explore identity and cross-cultural exchange.
Closed
17 Mar 2018 – 13 Sep 2021
Exhibition Ngā whakaaturanga
“The themes in his work always have a place in society – especially today where so many people are outcasts from their own countries.”
Whimsical but with a critical edge, ‘Détour’ is Michael Parekowhai’s response to the repositioning of contemporary art at Te Papa with the opening of the new gallery.
Closed
17 Mar – 8 Nov 2018
Exhibition Ngā whakaaturanga