The making of art can be seen as a physical manifestation of the process of thought, each

step in the making is a neural map of the artists mind from initial thought to final completed artwork.

Without the act of will, nothing is created.

With the act of will, a mental construct is manifested into reality.

My art is influenced by my interests in computers, technology, buddhism, neurology,

biology, mixed media making, neurographic Techniques, and mind mapping, with a strong

element of stained glass and computer circuitry.

To me, art is about poetry. It is about the conversation, the poetry of relationship. Art is poetry in connections both conceptually and physically. It’s about musicality, the confrontation of ideas or simply a lullaby. It’s about the breadth of materials coming together and the moment of their connection, or collision in some ways. Art is your first love, the angry retort on the street, art is about peeling paint and that smashed vase. Art is an earthquake whispered, art is about the silence in the uproar.

Art is about the relationship between elements and ideas, it’s about possibilities, the happening between you the viewer and the work. Maybe art is the moment of your realisation of your interaction with the piece, your love of a line, you’re turning away from an affront, your satisfaction with pigments coming together? All in all art is about relationship between you, me, and the work. Poetry. Every which way. All of this, to me, is what makes art.

Mokena identifies as a Contemporary Indigenous Maori Arts practitioner from the city of Turanga Nui A Kiwa, (Gisborne).

After studying Contemporary and Traditional Indigenous Art Practices for a period of 4 years at one of the countries most prestigious Maori Art Schools, Toihoukura: School Of Maori Visual Art and Design, Mokena relocated to Te Whanga Nui-A-Tara, Poneke (Wellington) to pursue educational and career opportunities in the capital.

After an unfortunate series of events, Mokena was diagnosed with HIV. This forced Mokena to turn his attention inwards, and as a part of his healing process, he picked up a paint brush, and began his healing journey through the medium of expression, through the arts.

Mokena found his way to Pablos Art Studios through local Wellington Emergency Housing Service Provider's Atareira, and has been a regular participant and practitioner of the arts, thanks to the emmense amount of love and support from Pablos Arts Studio Staff and his fellow Pablos Artist.

Mokena would like to continue to develop his artistic, professional and personal skills in a Professional Arts Capacity, and desires to showcase and create a strong body of work, to the highest degrees possible, drawing on his extensive knowledge of Contemporary and Traditional Maori Culture, History, Arts Practices and Philosophy. .

Phoebe has been composing music since age 6 and taught herself piano from age 10, guitar at age12 and turned to art-making around her teenage years. These have been the primal ways Phoebe expresses herself.

Trained in Composition at Canterbury University, Phoebe developed her interests further. As a guest lecturer within the newly (at the time) established Feminist Studies programme at the University in the 1980’s she presented many compositions and performative works. She collaborated with sculptor Megan Huffadine and others. Her spiritual performances were considered highly esoteric by some members of the music faculty. These featured costume, sculpture and other immersive media like colour, lighting and scent. These also would usually include audience participation.

Phoebe was interviewed on Nightline and the Sunday Star Times in 1990 and later sang at an international singing performance in China in 1995 ; these events are all well documented within the book of Curriculum Vitae she maintains.

Phoebe has only recently joined the Pablos Art Studio in order to gain the same empowerment from art-making as she did with composition. A migraine disorder and associative co-morbidities inhibited Phoebe’s continuation as a musical performer. This she has achieved through quiet lyrical paintings developed with watercolour and mixed media, chalk drawing, and photography.

Born in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Anton undertook some formal art training from Rob Taylor earlier in his career. Anton’s “Portrait of Murphy” can be seen at Murphy’s Irish Pub in Cuba St that was designed by his father whose speciality involved fitting out pubs in”Olde English” style. Anton’s influences are wide and eclectic. Gathering ideas from popular culture (e.g. Asterix comics by Uderzo and custom car pin striping) Anton has completed a number of murals in cafes around the Poneke region utilizing realism and caricature. At present his preferred medium is airbrush with water-based paints as a departure from his recent portrait series.

My name Reb I play Doom Metal on Electric guitar and I do art Painting, Drawing and Mixed Media so I'm Artistic child with attitude going, I don't care what people think of me.

I've been making art for years, a lot of people might draw a picture and say like, "I'm an artist", but you know… I'm looking to get back into a bit of carving. I've done some whale bone carving and I'm keen to get back to it. I've been looking to get back to a bit of carving, I've done some carving with whale bone; rings, heru, pendants. I just see what I can make on the day, it's not just about one style.

I'm an artist attending Pablo's Art Studio Inc for the last 8 years.

These paintings are inspired by mountain forest and snow during Winter in Japan. These works focus on the cold, stark backdrop of powder snow and bare trees. Originally there was a sense of dislocation when taking the photos, being lost amongst the trees reflecting disorientation of mind in thought.

Now, there is a balance of light and dark. The physical space between the branches and twigs metaphorically represents the Japanese concept of "ma" - a pause in time, an interval or emptiness in space. Ma is the fundamental time and space life needs to grow, and without which we cannot progress.

I have been coming to Pablos on and off since it started. I studied at the Wellington Polytechnic in design and illustration. I do mainly painting and sculpture as well as printmaking sometimes. My paintings are more impressionitstie and my sculptures use woof and are modernist in approach. In my painting I enjoy the process of painting as it usually gives me a sense of peacefulness.

Reece Tong was born in Hawera Taranaki in 1968 and has been making art since his teenage years also playing drums in a high school band in Wellington. Reece has been coming to Pablos for close to 13 years and has utilised various processes within the capacity of his art making practice. Highly prolific with a professional sense of practice, a tight routine and a strong work ethic, it is daily life experiences that inform Reece’s personal imagery which is simplified yet iconic. Reece’s work is informed by the contemporary work that he engages with during weekly gallery visits, the lives of people around him, the natural world, politics and current events, this extends to the iconography utilised in his paintings. The end goal as an artist for Reece is “to get the work out there’’ and in addition to further exhibitions there are future plans to develop his research into mural works in 2022.

Gorgery Cheung has been art making for many years. His earlier foray into art at school was not successful in that he struggled somewhat with the curriculum and it was not an approach that was sympathetic to Gorgery’s vision. However by coming to Vincents and Pablos for a number of years, Gorgery overcame this hurdle to develop a personal visual lexicon and a goal to experiment and try new processes that he could utilise at his time at The Learning Connection. Not only working in print, ink drawing, ceramics, jewellery and glass casting Gorgery’s process is informed by aspects of cross culturalism, animation and the aesthetics of skill based practice in traditional and contemporary art forms. He continues to develop his professional practice as a Wellington based artist.

C.J. was born and raised in Wainuiomata and from an early age has been interested in cars and motorcycles. A self-taught mechanic he worked fixing cars as a teenager.

In fact, when C.J. was young he had little interest in art making.

However, an unfortunate accident left CJ unable to utilise his “natural“ right-hand and so part of his rehabilitation to develop “left-handedness’’ involved art making. This is where CJ developed his love for painting. Still gleaning inspiration from car culture, comics and music that ranged from Rap to Doomcore; CJ has been attending Pablos for 10 years. CJ intends to develop his art making skills to include 3D in the future.