Jann Medlicott Gifts Tauranga Art Gallery a Kelcy Taratoa Work

Tauranga Art Gallery has recently been the fortunate recipient of our first collection work by esteemed local artist Kelcy Taratoa (Ngāi te Rangi / Ngāti Tapu / Ngāti Ranginui / Ngāti Raukawa), who also served as a trustee of the Tauranga Art Gallery Foundation Board. The late Jann Medlicott MNZM was a philanthropist and generous supporter of the arts and literature both here in Tauranga and nationally. The important work of Kelcy Taratoa was a direct gift from Jann to the Gallery. The work is a 2017 painting entitled Painted History... not that long ago (acrylic on canvas) 1100 x 780 x 70mm, and was included in the 2021 Tauranga Art Gallery exhibition In the Wake: Rena 10 years on 

Jann has been closely involved with the Acorn Foundation, also a supporter of the Gallery, since 2008, sponsoring an adult er scholarship at the University of Waikato from 2012 to 2015, and since 2012 she has sponsored an annual Creative Arts Award through Creative Bay of Plenty. Jann is very well known nationally for sponsoring the Jann Medlicott Prize for Fiction at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Tauranga Art Gallery is delighted to be gifted this important work and to have received such wonderful support from Jann, and the Acorn Foundation.

About the artist:

Kelcy Taratoa (b. 1972)

Ngai Te Rangi / Ngati Ranginui / Ngati Raukawa)

Kelcy Taratoa is a New Zealand painter. His works are vivid, hard-edged, and graphic. Taratoa's formative years were divided between the small town of Levin and the West Coast city of New Plymouth on the North Island. In 1990 he relocated to Palmerston North to undertake trade training, and later in 1998 commenced training at Massey University, graduating in 2005 with a Master of Maori Visual Arts degree. 

Whilst popular culture, technology, and science fiction have been source material for his highly political and deeply personal works, 2019 revealed a shift in Taratoa's practice into the conceptual and abstract territory of Maori customary art forms. Taratoa has exhibited widely throughout New Zealand, and his works are included in both private and public collections, in New Zealand and overseas. He currently lives and works in Tauranga.