Hone Tiatoa

Born and raised in Auckland in the late 70’s, Hone spent most of his adolescent years growing up in Otara, then later moved for a short time to Whangarei, however eventually settled on papakainga (ancestral) land in Waimate North, 10 minutes out of Kerikeri.

Hone enrolled in Kerikeri High School and took on Art classes where he often struggled to conform to the conventional methods and concepts of art being delivered in the classroom.

Upon leaving school in 1993 he went in and out of different jobs and moved in between Auckland, Whangarei and Kerikeri but always maintained an inherent impulse to fashion works out of discarded items and often on, or in the most unorthodox places and surfaces.

Although graffiti art was and is still largely frowned upon, it provoked an interest in Hone to create art work outside of the restraints of the classroom. It enabled the ability to speak through imagery to a larger audience but gave him the added security of remaining some what anonymous at a very experimental and still naive stage of his artistic development.

Spray paint and markers were the most commonly used materials in graffiti art at that time; however Hone often used chalk on pavement, and on occasion did use spray paint or old house paint on alleyway fences. He liked the fact that by using chalk it wasn’t permanent, as his ideas and techniques often changed so he was never really content with permanent fixtures of work.

Most of his current work is reminiscent of ancient graffiti techniques where works of art were produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is “sgraffito’, which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. In ancient times, graffiti was carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk and coal were used, much like how Hone initially set out in his early experiments with chalk.

In 1999 Hone moved back to the Bay of Islands and began to create more serious works from his garage. It wasn’t until late 2002 that Hone was encouraged to have his work exhibited in a formal setting at the Whare Toi Tangata Gallery in Moerewa. Anxieties about what sort of response he may get from such a public display soon faded with each exhibition and growing popularity.

Hone went onto have solo exhibitions at the Whare Toi Tangata Gallery in Moerewa on more than one occasion as well as, Finders Gallery in Kaitaia, The Art Bungalow, Kaan Zamaan, Kina Kitchen and Reco Tapas Bar and Gallery in Kerikeri, Opua Gallery and Paihia Library in the Bay of Islands, Halena Bay Gallery and The Tuatara Design Store in Whangarei.

He entered in the 2007 BDO Spicers Art Competition in Kerikeri and for the first time exhibited two pieces in the Ngapuhi Festival Art exhibition for 2008. Hone also exhibits works in the annual Matariki festivals in the Bay of Islands and recently exhibited at the Bowen Galleries Ghuznee Room in Wellington in September.

Hone worked on a commission for Martin Hughes Architecture Interiors for the Stamford Hotel in central Auckland city recently, and has another commission through Martin Hughes for a residential property in the New Year.

Hone is a self taught artist who is inspired by the challenges of cultural diversity in the forever changing world we live in today.  He admires such artists as Ralph Hotere, Bill Hammond, Colin McCahon, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Leonardo De Vince.

Hone currently lives in Paihia with his fiancé and son Maui and continues to experiment with his art.