the sun desires only you

May 29 - June 27, 2026

 

i was born in the pacific equinox under a shark’s

jaw, at the same time my mother's blood became a 

constellation, my journey already mapped out

since then I have been a stranger to roads and doors 

 

i had a vision deep as the lulu

the sleepless nights of the peka

my hands spent one night as the ocean

for two days my hair glittered as wonderful as the sun

 

one day I stood up to the window’s height

to reach the kisses of a frightened

brown bird, small as my own ears

 

though my mouth surrendered to her 

wings, saliva full of distant ships sailed

away from my throat, from my voice, my eyes

 - John Pule

 


Installation view - front gallery


Installation view - front gallery

 

Mega-flora, the patience of pattern painting, and the chancy art of the pour and the bleed, are a powerful presence in John Pule’s new exhibition, the sun desires only you, at Jonathan Smart Gallery until June 27th. It is an intoxicating and heady mix.

Stand before the big red buds in I will wait for you here. They are sticky thick, two tone and all but in conversation with the curious eyeball-like plant to their right. The patterning of seed, leaf and flowerhead is intensely beautiful. Combined with the wrinkled skin of thickly poured paint, the feeling of verdant fecundity is playful and almost overwhelming.

 


I will wait for you here, 2025 (detail)

However, there is a sense of quiet and composure about the sun won’t set, Tukulagi. Beneath the power of a magma-like paint pour, six small figures relax, sit and swim in a deep blue (Pacific) sea below. The predominance of yellows and greens is restful and refined.

Adjacent is a rare Self-Portrait, an etching from May, 2006. Pule’s torso (like the paintings here around it), is all flower and leaf. And a typically evocative Pule poem is on the wall below. Unable to be present at the Opening (as he supports Leao, his son’s band on their first tour to the European north), the poem and etching assert his presence within the show.

 

The sun won't set - Tukulagi, 2026 (detail) Self-Portrait, May 2006



In the smaller back gallery, three big paintings and a large framed drawing dial up the intensity again. The purples and blues in Let’s go find this place are sensational. The purples in particular are really blurred and bled. There are layers of colour and some overpainting which is unusual for Pule, conjuring an atmosphere both under-water and underworld.

The work on paper however, is more flesh pink and green. Figures and buildings are literally pushed to the edge; as mythical birds, lizards and fish describe a past and present full of dread. A constellation of pictographs, inkblots and red “comets” float across white ground. The feeling is that of longing, of warning and of loss. As Pule writes in the last lines of his poem, “…though my mouth surrendered to her wings, saliva full of distant ships sailed away, from my throat, from my voice, my eyes”.

JS 



Installation view - rear gallery


Let's go find this place, 2026



Avaiki Birds, Kavaka, 2026 (detail)

 


Installation view - rear gallery


Installation view - rear gallery

 


Images of all exhibited works, including detail images, are to be found in the 'Details of works' section at the bottom of the page.

Selected works


Avaiki Birds, Kavaka, 2026



I will wait for you here, 2025


Let's go find this place, 2026


The sun won't set - Tukulagi, 2026

 

 

 

Details of works