Peace in 10,000 Hands - The Pataka ART Museum Collection - Stu Robertson

STUART ROBERTSON

PEACE IN 10,000 HANDS

Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama Stuart Robertson

27.9.15 - 15.11.15

A single white rose an ancient symbol of peace in the hands of 10,000 people from every country on the planet An evocative and unstoppable global art project creating a visual provocation to challenge and reinvigorate the conversation for peace Contemporary artworks which speak profoundly to our similarities in the human condition

CATALOGUE CONTENTS FOREWORD Simon Bowden | Executive Director | The Arts Foundation New Zealand

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INTRODUCTION Contemporary Art Curator Mark Hutchins-Pond

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Trigger

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Artists Biography

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Exhibition of artworks at Pataka ART+museum

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The Shadows Play

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Pari

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List of works

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Experience Peace in 10,000 Hands - Links

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Bound Stuart Robertson, 2013 1000mm x 1000mm Facemounted plexiglass archival photograph

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FOREWORD Simon Bowden | Executive Director | The Arts Foundation of New Zealand A man of adventure. A man of spirit. A man on a mission. A New Zealander who thinks and works globally and knows that ‘Kiwis’ can break down cultural barriers with the spirit of curiosity.

Stu Robertson is a photographer, like his grandfathers before him. He is an artist whose deep love of humanity has taken him around the world with a simple symbol of peace.

Stu has embraced the power of instant global connection to create a living art work in which we can all share. He has described the moment of the click of the camera to me. When a subject holds the white rose. In that moment there is a transportation, where the subject becomes an artist lost in consideration of humanity’s potential for peace. Stu is also transcending and the camera does the rest of the work. The result is a series of profound images that enable our private reflection on peace and on the power of the arts.

I first met Stu when Peace in 10,000 Hands found a home on the Arts Foundation’s website Boosted, which enables people to participate in arts projects as donors. People helped out with donations, but they gave much more than that. They let us know that they believe in Stu Robertson and that they care about peace.

With the blessing and loving commitment of his wife Semele, Stu Robertson has dedicated his life to this self-funded project. A brave human taking on the world with a message we can all be proud to share.

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INTRODUCTION Contemporary Art Curator | Mark Hutchins-Pond Pātaka ART + Museum A single white rose… symbolises purity, virtue, reverence, humility, loyalty and sacred love.

The colour white is universally understood as a symbol of innocence, of natural beauty unspoiled and virtue untarnished. But for Stuart Robertson, above all else, the single white rose serves as a powerful, timeless symbol for Peace.

As anyone can see, Stu Robertson’s Peace in 10,000 Hands portraits are extraordinary. The format of the vast majority of them is simple - a single human subject photographed ‘front on’ from the waste up proffering the white rose towards the camera - yet each image is as totally unique as the person it portrays. Some of the subjects are instantly recognisable; international celebrities, Hollywood movie stars, cultural icons or famous sporting or music personalities; while others appear totally unfamiliar to us until Robertson introduces us to them through his camera.

So what is it that makes these works so poignant? I believe it’s the sincerity we perceive in the faces and gestures of those portrayed as they demonstrate their unifying desire for a peaceful world.

Kofi Annan, seventh Secretary-General to the United Nations and one of the most eloquent advocates for Peace in our time, referred to ‘Art’ as ‘civilization’s first global movement’. There is no doubt that the universal language of a powerful image can cross most cultural barriers. Robertson’s success in persuading so many culturally diverse people from around the world to be part of his project, often without the aid of a common spoken let alone written language is testament to that.

Images generate emotional sub-conscious responses in us before conditioned intellectual objectifying of what we see gets in the way. If the initial emotional response is powerful enough, it can actually short-circuit secondary rationalisation. After many viewings, I continue to find the images in Robertson’s Peace in 10,000 Hands project emotionally moving; some profoundly so. These works seem to cut straight to the heart of what it means to be human and gently resonate it back to our own reality.

Thanks to the proliferation of social media networks, today’s image makers have the means to distribute their works to mass international audiences in an instant. It can be said that now more than ever before, art has the potential to challenge people’s ideas and provoke change.

Robertson works very hard at achieving this goal, getting his Peace in 10,000 Hands images out there via websites, social media, news media and in hard copy and digital publications, and he’s been very successful at this. But for me, nothing compares with the intimate, personal experience of standing directly in front of these images in a gallery.

In the majority of the works exhibited at Pataka Art + Museum, the people portrayed are life-size or larger. When you enter the gallery you can’t avoid feeling their physical presence in the space and, in many cases, their eyes upon you. Although initially a little confronting, the warmth of the expressions on all of their faces soon makes you want to draw closer and engage with these likenesses more directly.

The single white silk rose at the centre of nearly all of these works is the same. Robertson has now photographed close to 2,500 people holding this rose. He carries it as a treasured taonga wherever 5

he goes. When he’s struck by a subject he is moved to photograph, he approaches them with the rose, shares the dream of his project with them - as best he can, and asks them to hold the rose and think of what Peace means to them. The rose they all hold has never been ‘washed’ during its journey through the hands of 2,500 people. A natural anti-bacterial water-based spray containing grapefruit seed has been sprayed on the petals a couple of times but other than that, its surface patina has been left undisturbed, gradually absorbing the energy inherent in everyone who touches it. Through Robertson’s perpetuation of this ritual, the rose has been transformed from a symbolic compositional element into a physical manifestation of connected between everyone who has been involved in Peace in 10,000 Hands.

Robertson mentioned that when he started this project he used the rose as his central compositional and conceptual focus. The features of his sitters were always readable, allowing famous faces to be easily identified, but the personality of the ‘holder’ of rose was softly drawn in the background. These images were about the rose’s talismanic quality and the effect holding it was having on the person being photographed. As the series progressed, Robertson began to experiment more with depths of field and started capturing a lot more visual information of the sitter and surrounding detail.

It’s inevitable that most of us are initially drawn to the portraits of celebrities which you can take delight in immediately identifying. Robertson utilises this predictable response to great advance in quickly capturing his audience’s attention. Once engaged, the viewer then moves on to ‘meet’ the less familiar and unknown faces.

As I’ve gradually become more familiar with most of the images in this exhibition I’ve found I continue to seek out the anonymous faces of sitters whose eyes appear sharply in focus. As I stare, their eyes seem to mesmerise me. It’s as though I’m able to tap into the sitter’s own thoughts at the moment the photograph was taken; that fraction of a second Robertson has managed to capture and preserve for thousands of viewers to later relive. Maybe, because they’re not famous, at least not to me, it feels easer to meet their direct gaze and emotionally identify with them. I don’t know…

Stu Robertson is, of course, as much a teller of tales as he is an image maker. The conveying of personal narrative plays a huge part in what makes his Peace in 10,000 Hands series so compelling. His choice of subject and composition is always carefully considered and he usually leaves subtle visual clues to the stories behind the faces he photographs in the images he constructs.

The titles of the photographs also indicate the artist’s narrative intent and when Robertson provides accompanying captions, he candidly shares with his audience what originally moved him to take the picture. Knowing these backstories enables viewers to establish empathy with the sitter, understand their personal circumstances, and connect with them on a human level.

Robertson is obviously attracted to beauty in many forms. The beauty his sitters possess may some times appear unconventional from a traditional western perspective but all of them express a form of natural grace. Luscious, sensually invigorating colour is another element the artist plays with in more recent works. Chromatic warmth radiates from works printed on metallic paper while Robertson applies neon text in primary colours on top of photographic images in a subseries of fist tattoos. When electricity powers up the neon in a dimmed gallery space, the tattooed mantras initially outshine the rose held up by the hands they are drawn upon, but, as your eyes adjust to the light levels, the rose begins to reflect the colour of the neon below it.

Although most of the texts of these fist tattoos are upbeat; love life, stay true, make time, others remind us that, despite its beauty, the real world can be a hard and dangerous place for the vulnerable.

A brooding sense of threat or unease that permeates a proportion of Robertson’s images seems to

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acknowledge this. It’s as if the pristine beauty of the innocent garden cannot be fully appreciated without the contrast the snake provides. Robertson also seems to be reminding us that real beauty can sometimes be found in unexpected places.

Another work featuring tattoos; the light box portrait of Trigger, encapsulates many of these conflicting evocations. This work is outstandingly beautiful. As its internal light-source gently modulates through the prismatic spectrum, waves of tantalising colour entice the viewer to take a closer look. As you do so, apparently abstract gestural marks that striate the light box come into focus, revealing the frightening image of a half-naked man brutalized by a life of crime and violence. At first it’s quite difficult to clearly make out his features beneath the crude, densely layered scarification that covers every exposed inch of his head, arms and torso. But, if you focus on his eyes, the disturbing veneer of his gang-related tattoos softens and blurs, revealing a calm, contemplative expression.

When Trigger was asked by Stu what it meant to him to hold the rose he said “I’m doing it for my children”. He knew better than to hope for a better life for himself, he was beyond redemption, but he desperately hoped for a different, happier, peaceful life for his children.

The works in Peace in 10,000 Hands that speak of personal triumphs of the human spirit against, poverty, physical hardship or suppression are among those I find the most moving. Robertson manages to capture a dignity in these works which inspires and humbles all who view them. Some of the sitters smile, some of them don’t but all their faces convey strength, resilience and self-possession.

Somehow, in his portrait of the indentured woman in Bound, Robertson has managed to facilitate empathetic connection between viewer and sitter without us being able to see her face. Incredible…

The exhibition at Pātaka Art + Museum celebrates Stu Robertson’s completion of the first quarter of his journey to capture Peace in 10,000 Hands. The images he has created to date are astonishing; it’s hard imagine how he can continue to develop and expand upon what has already become a magnum opus, and yet there is no doubt he will. In his own words, Robertson’s “passion for seeing the world through an alternative view runs deep”.

His profound compassion for humanity and determined commitment to refocus global attention onto the universal desire for Peace is what has driven him to achieve what he has at this point.

Two thousand, five hundred down, seven thousand, five hundred to go I eagerly await more images from Stu Robertson journey towards Peace in 10,000 Hands.

Mark Hutchins-Pond Contemporary Art Curator Pātaka Art + Museum

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lightbox works

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Trigger Stuart Robertson 2014 1000mm x 1500mm, monochrom transparency film colour changing lightbox A tapestry of his life was etched onto every surface of his body. He also ‘tagged’ his surrounding environment too. Trigger aka ‘Trigz’ made for an imposing character who held the white rose, only for the hope of a better future for his children. He was shot and killed in Los Angeles on October 10th 2014. As far as we know this was one of the last portraits taken of Trigger.

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Love Life Lightbox, Stuart Robertson 2014 1000mm x 1000mm, colour transparency film lightbox LOVELIFE. Perfection. A goal. The daily mission. Believe in coincidences? I bumped into Jordon on three separate occasions in Los Angeles over three weeks and in three completely different locations! ‘Love, Respect, Happiness for all’

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Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama Stuart Robertson, 2014 1000mm x 1000mm, monochrom transparency film lightbox ‘The planet does not need more successful people. The planet needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds’. The Dalai Lama

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STUART ROBERTSON Born 1969, Auckland, New Zealand Contemporary artist and humanitarian Stuart Robertson melds photography, film, digital media, symbolism, hand-blown glass and neon with his background in design he creates works that speak profoundly to the viewer, causing us to confront our own preconceptions and acknowledge the commonalities of the human condition.

Creating a global conversation and ripple effect he draws on the phenomenal power of modern social networks and instant borderless communication that makes mankind more connected than ever before in history.

Robertson has developed and refined his practice over 30 years. His works now hang in many established collections throughout New Zealand, the USA and Europe and his profile continues to gain significant momentum internationally.

The artists passion for seeing the world through an alternate view runs deep. His grandfathers were both prolific photographers with their own darkrooms and camera collections. Their love for the medium underpins the artist’s own obsession.

The Artist, Studio 66, Queenstown New Zealand

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Major Exhibition Projects Gusford Art Gallery, Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, August 2013 LAB Art Gallery, Collaboration, South La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, June 2014 Auckland War Memorial Museum, International Peace Day (Film), Sept 2014 Global Launch Exhibition Orakei Bay, Auckland, New Zealand, May 2014 Sydney Peace Day, September 2014 LAB Art Gallery, Texas - August 2015 Pataka Art + Museum, September – November 2015 Page Blackie Gallery – Wellington – February 2016 Exhibition Events & Speaking Engagements Speaker - Eventing the Future - Auckland 2013 Exhibition Launch & speaking – Orakei Bay – The First Collection – July 2014 Exhibition Launch – Arts Foundation of New Zealand - Auckland - August 2014 Exhibition Launch – Arts Foundation of New Zealand - Queenstown - August 2014 Speaker - Leica Los Angeles - xxxxxx Speaker - TEDx Women - Wellington - New Zealand - xxx Speaker & attendee - HATCH, Montana, USA - August 2015 Exhibition & Key Note speaker – The Digital Show – Leica Gallery - Melbourne – October 2015 Speaker - XXX Adelaide - xxx Permanent Galleries stu.dio66 – 66 Industrial Place - Queenstown Gallery X – 1 Khartoum Place – Auckland City Commercial Installations Gusto – SKYCITY Grand Hotel, Auckland, New Zealand Orleans – Britomart, Auckland, New Zealand Orleans – Lichfield St, Christchurch, New Zealand Frame – Orakei Bay, Auckland, New Zealand Beirut – Fort Street, Auckland City, New Zealand Nathan Club - Britomart Auckland City, New Zealand

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plexiglass works

Emptiness in Harmony Stuart Robertson, 2013 1000mm x 1000mm Facemounted plexiglass archival photograph

London Blue Stuart Robertson, 2013 1000mm x 1000mm Facemounted plexiglass archival photograph

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The Haight Stuart Robertson, 2014 1000mm x 1000mm Facemounted plexiglass archival photograph

We Love Too Slow Stuart Robertson, 2013 1000mm x 1000mm Facemounted plexiglass archival photograph

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Peace in 10,000 Hands exhibition at Pataka Art + Museum.

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neon works

Stay True Stuart Robertson, 2014 1000mm x 1000mm x 70mm Hand blown glass with blue neon, giclĂŠe archival print, aluminium box mount

Illusion Stuart Robertson, 2015 1000mm x 1000mm x 70mm Hand blown glass with red neon, giclĂŠe archival print, aluminium box mount

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Doll Face Stuart Robertson, 2014 1000mm x 1000mm x 70mm Hand blown glass with red neon, giclĂŠe archival print, aluminium box mount.

Born Free Stuart Robertson, 2015 1000mm x 1000mm x 70mm Hand blown glass with white neon, giclĂŠe archival print, aluminium box mount

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Larger than Love Life Stuart Robertson, 2015 2400mm x 330mm Green & red handblown neon glass lettering.

8000mm x 3000mm monochrom printed wallpaper

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dibond works

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Details from The Exquisite Clarity of Standing Together Stuart Robertson 2015

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The Exquisite Clarity Of Standing Together.

Stuart Robertson, 2015 7600mm x 2200mm wall installaltion comprised of 85 x 400mm x 400mm monochrome GiclĂŠe photographic prints, aluminum dibond.

Eighty five people from 18 different countries hold the same symbol of peace.

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vitrines

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The Vitrines Like a scour in the landscape left by a glacier, the vitrines represent the physical manefestation of the journey.

Robertson records his connectedness to each of the faces, places, moments and experiences on the road through keeping the physical gifts, tickets, messages and momento’s along the way.

The vitrines are a deeply personal insight into the touchpoints that connect the artist to each of his subjects and the often long and gritty journey to reach them.

The collection shares the ingrained sense of memory and nostalgia for the artists personal quest to meet and photograph the rose in the hands of 10,000 people from every country around the globe.

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Daryl Hannah Stuart Robertson, 2014 1500mm x 1000mm x 50mm GiclĂŠe archival print, aluminium box mount

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box mount works

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Ricky Gervais Stuart Robertson, 2014 900mm x 900mm x 50mm GiclĂŠe archival print, aluminium box mount

Oscar Kightly Stuart Robertson, 2014 900mm x 900mm x 50mm GiclĂŠe archival print, aluminium box mount

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Demi Moore Stuart Robertson, 2014 900mm x 900mm x 50mm GiclĂŠe archival print, aluminium box mount

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framed works Entrance Stuart Robertson, 2015

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Antarctica Series Stuart Robertson, 2015

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The Shadows Play Stuart Robertson, 2013.

Giclée archival photographic print. 800mm x 800mm Udaipur, India, it’s another swlltering hot day. I saw Remkha sitting on the side of the road surrounded by her four children. She was begging for her and her children’s living. I was captivated by her rough beauty and the exquisite coloured fabrics that she was draped in. As she kindly stretched out her hand to take the white rose. The blue cloth piled up in her lap moved and fell away to reveal her newborn baby. This image for me captures so much of the dichotomy of India.

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Pari Stuart Robertson, 2013.

GiclĂŠe archival photographic print. 560mm x 370mm.

Towards the end of a long day photographing in the dust and heat of Rajasthan, Pari popped his head out of his mothers’ home to look at what I was doing in his village!! Struck by the moment I offered the white rose to Pari and I took this image.

A personal favourite, I can still remember the fragrant smell of the evening meal his mother was preparing.

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digital

The Exquisite Clarity of Standing Together Digital Installation on LED screen Robertson and award winning musician Tiki Taane produced a 14min 51sec digital visual and audio art collaboration for the exhibition. 85 people from 18 countries holding the white rose, an ancient symbol of peace.

Illuminate International Peace Day. 2014.

Digital film projected 13min 41sec film & soundtrack based on the peace in 10,000 Hands concept. Produced for Auckland War Memorial Museum as Auckland’s offering for world peace day 2014.

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installations

Watch it here.

Watch it here.

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Illuminate International Peace Day. Stuart Robertson 2014 A three day long public art installation, projected across the front of the Auckland War Memorial Museum as a larger than life, building size audio and visual art installation in September 2014.

Robertson was commissioned for his first digital installaion by The Auckland War Memorial Museum.

He created and direced a film based on the concept of Peace in 10,000 Hands as the New Zealand contribution to International Peace Day 2014. Returning from Los Angeles to begin filming, Robertson directed the film crateing a serise of powerful ‘moving portraits’. A commentary on and from the diverse and colour mega cultural city of Auckland, New Zealand

Watch it here.

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LIST OF WORKS LIGHTBOX WORKS Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama -

1000mm x 1000mm, monochrom transparency film lightbox

Trigger -

1000mm x 1500mm, monochrom transparency film colour changing lightbox

Love Life Lightbox -

1000mm x 1000mm, colour transparency film lightbox

PLEXIGLASS WORKS The Haight -

1000mm x 1000mm, metalic photographic paper, dibonded with facemount plexiglass

Emptiness in Harmony -

1000mm x 1000mm, metalic photographic paper, dibonded with facemount plexiglass

Bound -

1000mm x 1000mm, metalic photographic paper, dibonded with facemount plexiglass

We Love Too Slow -

1000mm x 1000mm, metalic photographic paper, dibonded with facemount plexiglass

London Blue -

1000mm x 1000mm, metalic photographic paper, dibonded with facemount plexiglass

NEON WORKS Doll Face -

1000mm x 1000mm, hand blown red glass neon, giclée print, aluminium box mount

Stay True -

1000mm x 1000mm, hand blown blue glass neon, giclée print, aluminium box mount

Illusion -

1000mm x 1000mm, hand blown red glass neon, giclée print, aluminium box mount

Born Free -

1000mm x 1000mm, hand blown white glass neon, giclée print, aluminium box mount

Larger than Love Life - 2400mm x 350mm hand blown green and red glass neon lettering installation with

printed monochrome wallpaper - flexible to wall size

BOX MOUNT WORKS

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Claire Beet -

1000mm x 1000mm, Giclée archival print, aluminium box mount

Demi Moore -

900mm x 900mm, Giclée archival print, aluminium box mount

Oscar Kightley -

900mm x 900mm, Giclée archival print, aluminium box mount

Ricky Gervais -

900mm x 900mm, Giclée archival print, aluminium box mount

Daryl Hannah -

1000mm x 1500mm, Giclée archival print, aluminium box mount

DIBOND WORKS The Exquisite Clarity of Standing Together -

7600mm x 2200mm wall installaltion comprised of 85 x 400mm x 400mm monochrome Giclée photographic prints, aluminum dibond

FRAMED WORKS Scotts Table -

560mm x 370mm, framed Giclée archival photograph print

Shackleton’s Legacy -

560mm x 370mm, framed Giclée archival photograph print

The Shadows Play -

800mm x 800mm, framed colour Giclée photographic print

Pari -

560mm x 370mm, framed colour Giclée photographic print

DIGITAL WORKS The Exquisite Clarity of Standing Together Digital Installation, 2015 - 14min 51sec digital visual and audio art collaboration,Stuart Robertson and Tiki

Taane Digital file can be displayed on LED screen or projected Illuminate International Peace Day 2014 -

13min 41sec film & soundtrack based on the peace in 10,000 Hands concept and produced for Auckland War Memorial Museum as Auckland’s offering for world peace day 2014.

Digital file can be displayed on LED screen or projected

VITRINES Contents for vitrines including notebooks, gifts, tickets, messages and momento’s from the artists journey.

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BOOK PICS AND LINK TO BUY BOOK

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LIST OF WORKS

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the experience

EXPERIENCE PEACE IN 10,000 HANDS

Watch Stu and Tiki Taane’s collaboration ‘The Exquisite Clarity of Standing together’ a Museum installation

Watch Stu’s TEDx Talk

Peace in 10,000 Hands lead story on ‘60 Minutes’

Stu was invited to HATCH in Montana, 100 people globally are invited once every year. view HATCH

Peace in 10,000 Hands film Illuminate Peace Day produced for the Auckland Museum

f11 – read the cover story on Stu in f11 Magazine

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BOOKS & PRINTS AVAILABLE FOR RETAIL SALE

Peace in 10,000 Hands book The First Collection

Peace in 10,000 Hands Limited edition prints available

Follow facebook.com/PeaceIn10000Hands twitter.com/in10000hands instagram.com/peacein10000hands

Website peacein10000hands.com

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T H A N K

Y O U

CONTACT Stuart Robertson stu@peacein10000hands.com +64 21975597 Semele Robertson semele@peacein10000hands.com +64 21866415