Archipelago Area 51 is an alternative reality that disregards time and space. These villages are inhabited with extraterrestrial and human sentiments who have created their own culture and history. They are impossible collectivist and joyful societies that revel in the simplicities of their existence.
Opening Speaker, Dr. Teariki Puni.
Andy Leleisi’uao returns to solo exhibition in Rarotonga for the first time in 5 years.
The new exhibition Archipelago Area 51 continues the artists evolving Ufological narrative first appearing in the 2003 show The Umu Collection of Titles (Whitespace Gallery, Auckland). Fusing Polynesian mythology with urban legend and set against a backdrop of contemporary western cultural cannon, the artist creates an otherworldly narrative of peace and serenity.
He states ‘Archipelago Area 51 is an alternative reality that disregards time and space. These villages are inhabited with extraterrestrial and human sentiments who have created their own culture and history. They are impossible collectivist and joyful societies that revel in the simplicities of their existence.’
Leleiai'uao first exhibited in Rarotonga in 2007 as part of the two-artist presentation Scriptures from the West, with Mahiriki Tangaroa. He returned to Rarotonga in 2009 as BCA artist in residence. In 2011, his exhibition The Ufological City of New York was featured at the VOLTA Art Fair, New York City. In 2018, his large-scale mural project Mangere Aroha was presented at Bergman Gallery Rarotonga. In 2019 the major exhibition A Diasporic Pulse of Faith & Patience was exhibited.
Andy Leleisi’uao lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Pātaka Art + Museum; Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa; Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki; Chartwell Trust; New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade; The Arts House Trust; University of Auckland; University of Canterbury; University of Otago; Auckland Council; Pacific Business Trust; Casula Powerhouse, Sydney, and the Museum of Ethnography, Frankfurt
