Provenance:
Purchased directly from the Collection of Fletcher Challenge Ltd by the current owner, 1995

A single word from Bill Manhire's Malady poem has been repeated by Hotere across the surface of Black Painting XIIB. Appearing as a chant-like reverberation, it rises and falls in arched form, representing one of the three incantations which formed Manhire's original poem: malady, melody and my lady. Having been uplifted by Hotere in this way from the written work of his friend and collaborator, the painted word tacitly recalls its two homonyms.

Black Painting XIIB is partly about the sonority of language, exploring the possibility of both adding and stripping away meaning through repetition. It is also a painting which demands consideration of universal love and truth, my lady, sickness and decay, malady. The Malady series is certainly one of Hotere's most formally compelling. This painting is a fine example of the artist's ability to articulate concerns of sublime expressionism through his unique philosophy of colour and personal / political referentiality.