Abus | Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

item details

NameAbus

ProductionJohn Mann; 1977

Classificationprints, screen prints, works on paper

Materials Summaryscreenprint

Techniquesscreen printing

DimensionsImage: 458 (height), 609 (length)

Registration Number1989-0014-7

Credit linePurchased 1989 with New Zealand Lottery Board funds

Overview

John Mann was born in Golmand Village, Simbai District, Madang Province in 1953. He started drawing in the early 1970s and studied painting, screen printing and textiles and the Creative Arts Centre/National Art School between 1974-76. This was a fruitful period for the school, which supported a large number of contemporary artists and promoted printmaking practices. Being easily transportable and relatively affordable, prints by Papua New Guinea artists made their way around the world. Te Papa acquired a group of eight prints, including this one, from the school in 1989.

"Abus" means "animal" in Tok Pisin and can also refer to meat. In Mann’s 1997 screenprint Abus, a large animal is outlined with simple, sweeping lines of thick black. Geometric forms crisscross its body, which is covered in an intricate chevron pattern. Shown in flattened perspective, the animal floats against the plain paper background.