Red on black. From the portfolio: Barry Lett Multiples

Ralph Hotere created Red on black for a portfolio of prints by 12 leading New Zealand artists, including Colin McCahon, Gordon Walters, and Don Binney.

The prints, published in 1969 by Barry Lett Galleries, were an attempt to make important contemporary New Zealand art available to the public. They were produced in large numbers and sold cheaply, so were ‘everywhere’.

Hotere played a keen part in the screen-printing phenomenon that took place in 1960s and 70s New Zealand. The process worked well – as Red on black shows – for the kinds of images he was exploring: hard edges and blocked-out areas of a few colours.