The Battery Maritime Building at Cipriani South Street
10 South Street
New York, NY 10004
(New York, NY) – For the 2024 edition of Independent 20th Century, Venus Over Manhattan is pleased to present a solo exhibition of early work by Brad Kahlhamer, marking his debut with the gallery and setting the stage for a 2025 solo exhibition. Renowned for his multimedia practice, Kahlhamer’s paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from the 1990s highlight the foundational elements of his exploration of cultural hybridity and identity, influenced by his study of Native American ledger drawings and his immersion in the gritty New York art scene of the 1980s. The presentation traces the evolution of Kahlhamer’s unique perspective, blending historical influences with contemporary references, and telegraphs the beginnings of his notion of the “Third Place,” the meeting point of his diverse cultural experiences. Venus Over Manhattan’s presentation will highlight Kahlhamer’s artistic roots and the enduring themes that permeate his practice.
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VENUS OVER MANHATTAN
39 Great Jones Street New York, NY 10012
55 Great Jones Street New York, NY 10012
GALLERY HOURS
Tuesday – Saturday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
IMAGE CREDITS
Portrait of Brad Kalhamer. Photo: Doug Miles. Bird + Thalia, 2000. Watercolor, ink on paper; 22 x 30 in B. Butte, 1998. Oil on canvas; 16 1/4 x 14 in Untitled, c. 1990. Mixed media; 14 x 6 x 3 in
All images of works by Brad Kahlhamer, courtesy the artist and Venus Over Manhattan, New York.
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BRAD KAHLHAMER: BIOGRAPHY
Brad Kahlhamer (b. 1956) is a distinctive voice in contemporary art, with a long history on the New York City scene. Born in Tucson, Arizona and adopted by a German-American family, Kahlhamer’s early life was marked by a blend of cultural influences. This ambiguity regarding his roots has profoundly influenced his art, driving his exploration of identity and cultural synthesis.
Growing up in Arizona, Kahlhamer was surrounded by the rich cultural landscapes of the American Southwest. This environment, combined with his own indigenous heritage, sowed the seeds for a lifelong exploration of hybrid cultural experiences, which would later become a central theme in his art.
Kahlhamer pursued his higher education in the Midwest, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1982. His formal education provided him with a strong foundation in the arts. After a brief stint as a traveling musician, Kahlhamer moved to New York City in the 1980s.
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New York City marked a pivotal turning point in Kahlhamer’s career. He secured a job at Topps Chewing Gum, a role which became a crucial steppingstone in his artistic development. At Topps, Kahlhamer was introduced to influential figures in the underground art scene, notably Art Spiegelman, the renowned creator of Maus.
In 1993, Kahlhamer left Topps to fully commit to his art practice. The early 1990s in New York were characterized by a flourishing of alternative art spaces, which provided platforms for emerging artists. Kahlhamer’s work was prominently featured in exhibitions at venues like Exit Art, Thread Waxing Space, and White Columns. His installations, such as the doomsday shelter piece for The Garden of Sculptural Delights and the model village in Project Room at Thread Waxing Space, showcased his ability to blend personal history with imaginative constructs.
In discussing his work and its context, Kahlhamer has articulated a vision of art that operates within this “third place,” a space that merges different realities and cultural backgrounds. This concept resonates with the historical context of indigenous ledger drawings, which transformed the spaces of colonial documentation into vibrant narratives of resistance and survival. For Kahlhamer, this intersection of cultures and experiences is not merely a thematic choice but a fundamental aspect of his artistic identity.
Kahlhamer’s art has been exhibited extensively in the United States and internationally. His works are included in the collections of prestigious institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Seattle Art Museum, the Denver Art Museum, and many others.
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JOHN PULE: BIOGRAPHY
John Pule (b. 1962, Liku, Niue) is a renowned artist and writer from the small island of Niue, located in the South Pacific Ocean. Recognized as one of the Pacific’s most significant contemporary artists, Pule’s work has been celebrated globally since the 1990s. His art uniquely intertwines traditional Polynesian motifs with modern sensibilities, creating a vibrant and personal narrative.
At the age of two, Pule and his family moved to New Zealand, a country that has significantly influenced his work. Despite this, Pule has continually returned to Niue, drawing inspiration from its history, natural features, and his familial ties to the land. His art is deeply rooted in the iconography and history of Polynesia and the Pacific, often exploring themes of religiosity, colonization, and displacement.
Pule’s work spans various mediums, including painting on canvas and bark cloth. He is particularly inspired by the visual language of hiapo, a traditional decorative barkcloth from Niue. His largescale paintings and intricate designs reflect a rich tapestry of cultural and historical references, making him a pivotal figure in contemporary Oceanic art.
John Pule in his studio, 2015. Photo: Tobias Kraus.
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In 2018, the Royal Academy featured Pule’s work in a monumental survey of Oceanic art. His large-scale five-panel painting was showcased alongside 200 contemporary and historical works, representing key points in 500 years of regional history. Pule’s work has also been displayed extensively at prestigious institutions such as the Queensland Art Gallery and the Asia-Pacific Triennial.
In 2011, the Auckland Art Gallery held a major survey show dedicated to Pule, highlighting his significant contributions to contemporary art. He has received numerous accolades, including the Arts Foundation Laureate Award, and has been an artist-in-residence at notable institutions like the Cultural Museum and the Romerapotheke Art Residency in Basel, Switzerland.
Pule’s work is held in several public collections, including the Auckland Art Gallery, Te Papa Tongarewa (Museum of New Zealand), the National Gallery of Victoria, and the Queensland Art Gallery, among many others.
Pule’s impact on the art world extends beyond the Pacific, making him a global figure in contemporary art. His participation in the 2018 Royal Academy of Arts’ Oceania exhibition underscored his importance, with his work prominently featured among 200 pieces spanning 500 years of Oceanic history.
John Pule’s art not only reflects his deep connection to Niue and Polynesia but also engages with broader themes of immigration, colonization, and cultural identity. His ability to merge historical and modern elements into a cohesive and powerful narrative cements his place as a leading artist of the Pacific and beyond.
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Press Release
Venus Over Manhattan to Open First US-based Solo Exhibition of Renowned Niuean Artist John Pule
September 12 – October 26, 2024
Opening: Thursday, September 12th, 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Venus Over Manhattan
39 Great Jones Street New York, NY 10012
(New York, NY) – On September 12, Venus Over Manhattan will open the first US-based solo exhibition of artist and poet John Pule. From the small island nation of Niue in the South Pacific Ocean, Pule has risen to become one of the region’s most celebrated and important artists and is increasingly gaining notoriety across the world. His intricate paintings and drawings offer distinct meditations on the history, natural environs, and iconography of his home island and Polynesia more broadly. With John Pule, Venus Over Manhattan presents a unique opportunity for American audiences to experience the depth of Pule’s dynamic work, enhancing global awareness of his singular vision and practice. The exhibition will remain on view through October 26, at the gallery’s location at 39 Great Jones Street
“We look forward to presenting the first solo exhibition of John Pule’s work in New York, and in the U.S. more broadly. As representation of and dialogues with Indigenous artists have increased over the past few years, we are excited to bring more global Indigenous voices into
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the conversation,” said Adam Lindemann, founder of Venus Over Manhattan. “John’s work is truly unique, both formally and conceptually, and will have strong relevance and resonance for many people. It’s our pleasure to further enhance knowledge of and engagement with his important practice.”
To further explore Pule’s dynamic work and especially his recent paintings featured in the forthcoming exhibition, Venus Over Manhattan will host a panel discussion with the artist and Dr. Maia Nuku, Curator for the Arts of Oceania at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who has known Pule since the 1990s. More details regarding the date of the event will be shared in the coming weeks.
Pule was born in the village of Liku, immigrating to Aotearoa New Zealand at an early age. Pule remains deeply connected to his birthplace and now splits his time between Niue and Auckland. A self-taught artist, who first entered creative spheres through his extensive and award-winning body of poetry, Pule often draws on his own migration story and sense of identity to explore broader Niuean culture and mythologies. His art intertwines expressions of land, ocean, and people, both familiar and foreign, as well as symbols of colonization, displacement, and religion to create a visual topography that embraces personal and communal histories.
Pule’s visual vocabulary is also strongly informed by hiapo, a traditional Niuean decorative barkcloth. In the 19th century, hiapo were characterized by motifs inspired by native plant life and produced in fluid freehand directly on the cloth. With colonization, these works began to feature images of colonial influence, melding traditional Niuean cultural iconography with that of modern events. Pule’s own work often emphasizes representations of nature as well as references from across culture and time, bringing past and present together into singular compositions on canvas, barkcloth, and paper.
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John Pule features new paintings from a series produced in the past year. Paintings such as Takeleaga; Hina; Haia; and Deep Niue Evening showcase Pule’s distinct engagement with both rich, saturated color and evocations of nature. The vibrant paintings compel the eye and draw the viewer into Pule’s fantastical abstract landscapes. Works like These hot evenings make dreaming difficult establish an entirely different visual encounter, capturing Pule’s incredible range. In this work, and others like it, symbols and gestural marks collide in an open expanse, flattening any specific sense of time, place, and narrative, and highlighting Pule’s contemporary sensibilities as he illuminates different historical touchpoints. Works from this series recently featured prominently in the 2024 Sydney Biennale.
While the influence of hiapo appears across Pule’s oeuvre, works such as Miomimioi (2023) and Nakai momohe a tautolu, Ka e faliu a tau-toli oti (c. 1994) offer the greatest visual continuity. Here, much like in many of the traditional barkcloth works, symbols, marks, and references are presented within a loose grid, encapsulating parts of an expansive story within a contained structure. The works are both elusive and evocative, framing ongoing histories and mythologies with a compositional continuum.
Together, the works on view offer a broad view into the depth and breadth of Pule’s practice, highlighting his unique ability to bring together different narrative threads and expressions in ways that both honor cultural traditions and create an utterly contemporary experience.
Pule’s paintings were featured in a publication accompanying Dr. Nuku’s exhibition, ATEA: Nature and Divinity in Polynesia (Nov. 2018 – Oct. 2019) at the Metropolitan Museum. In this publication, she writes that his paintings “embrace an atmosphere suggestive of ancient
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landscapes, a primordial Polynesia.” “Verdant and glossy,” Nuku writes, “these latest works seem to pulse with the energy of burgeoning life, from the thick undergrowth of the forest to the glassine sanctum of underwater rock pools… They speak eloquently to the flourishing life brough on by atea, the light: the brief but crucial spark, conceived as consciousness, that evolved into the layered canopies of the sky and drew the cosmos out of the darkness.”1
1. ‘ATEA: Nature and Divinity in Polynesia’, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Winter 2019), p. 47.
ABOUT JOHN PULE
John Pule (b.1962, Liku, Niue) is a renowned artist and poet. His work has been presented extensively at prestigious institutions and events, including at the Queensland Art Gallery, 24th Biennale of Sydney, and Asia-Pacific Triennial. In 2011, the Auckland Art Gallery held a major survey of his work, highlighting his significant contributions to contemporary art, and in 2018, one of his large-scale, multi-panel paintings was featured in the monumental survey Oceania at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Pule has been invited to important residency programs, including at the Romerapotheke Art Residency in Basel, Switzerland, and been honored with such awards as the Laureate Award given by Arts Foundation of New Zealand. Pule’s work is held in several public collections, including the Auckland Art Gallery, Te Papa Tongarewa (Museum of New Zealand), the National Gallery of Victoria, and the Queensland Art Gallery.
ABOUT VENUS OVER MANHATTAN
Venus Over Manhattan is dedicated to illuminating the work of a diverse range of historical and contemporary artists through dynamic rotating exhibitions and scholarly publications. Since it
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was founded by Adam Lindemann in 2012, the gallery has been responsible for revitalizing and establishing commercial, scholarly, and public interest for artists such as Peter Saul, Richard Mayhew, and Joan Brown. Venus Over Manhattan operates from two locations on Great Jones Street and its distinct exhibitions program, which has recently featured works by Claude Lawrence, Peter Saul, Richard Mayhew, Chéri Samba, Keiichi Tanaami, and Joan Brown, attracts a broad spectrum of collectors, curators, writers, and arts enthusiasts. As art world trends continue to shift, Venus Over Manhattan remains steadfast in its focus on the discovery of artists across generations, geographies, and cultures and to expanding the depth of artists celebrated across global institutions, by audiences, and within the art market.
Hina, 2023. Oil, varnish, ink and enamel on canvas; 39 ¾ × 39 ¾ in Haia, 2023. Oil, varnish, ink and enamel on canvas; 78 ¾ × 78 ¾ in Sun, 2012. Oil on canvas; 75 ½ × 72 ¾ in Nakai momohe a tautolu, Ka e faliu a tau-toli oti, c. 1994. Acrylic on canvas; 69 ½ × 63 ¼ in Portrait of John Pule, 2015. Photo: Tobias Kraus. Above Ground Underground, 2012. Enamels, oil, oil stick, ink, varnish, polyurethane on canvas; 78 ¾ × 78 ¾ in This way to reach the blue of the land, 2024. Oil, var nish, ink and enamel on canvas; 59 × 59 in All works by John Pule: courtesy the artist and Venus Over Manhattan, New York.
