Andy Leleisi'uao

Andy Leleisi’uao (b. 1969) is a New Zealand artist of Samoan heritage known for his modern and post-modern Pacific paintings and art. He was paramount winner at the 26th annual Wallace Art Awards in 2017 and awarded a Senior Pacific Artist Award at the Arts Pasifika Awards in 2021.

Background
Leleisi’uao was born in 1969 New Zealand and grew up in Māngere, South Auckland. He has one sister, his parents were both born in Samoa and are Pepe (Lalomauga, Upolu) and Tuifa’asisina Tinou'amea (Palauli, Savai'i). Leleisi'uao went to Māngere College and afterwards had some factory jobs. He studied at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) School of Art and Design and received the first ever Pasifika Scholarship in 2000. In 2002 Leleisi’uao graduated with a Master of Fine Arts (with Honours). He has been a full time artist since 1996.

He has attended a number of arts residencies including a Research Scholarship at Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury, and the McCahon House Artists’ Residency in 2010. He spent three months in Taiwan in 2010 on an Asia New Zealand Foundation residency with the Taipei Artist Village.

Leleisi'uao has been based in the Auckland suburb of Māngere for over 40 years. He said about artists in an interview with Ema Tavola "For any artist to be mentally fecund, they have to be open."

Some of the visual references in his work are Stone Age rock art, classical Greek vase painting, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and Samoan siapa (tapa) cloth. It is said in his paintings that reoccurring motifs, "remind us of the inherent humanity of his creatures, and the universality of their struggle and endeavour within a limited existence". His work style has changed over the years of his practice, in the late 1990s his paintings were highly politicized dealing with subjects such as prejudice and racism, poverty and youth suicide amongst Pacific Island populations in New Zealand. Since the 2000s his work utilises 'mythology and spiritualism' with 'fantastical creatures' although still drawing upon 'social dislocation'.

Leleisi'uao had quite a few exhibitions in New York City. In 2009, Leleisi'uao had a solo exhibition Asefeka of the Unmalosa in Kips Gallery, Chelsea, New York. he returned to New York City in 2010 with the BCA group show MANUIA, co-curated by Mahiriki Tangaroa and Ben Bergman, exhibiting with artists Mike Tavioni, Michel Tuffery, Sylvia Marsters, Kay George, Jerome Shedden, and Mahikiri Tangaroa. In 2011, Leleisi'uao had a solo exhibition The Ufological City of New York with BCA Gallery (now Bergman Gallery) at VOLTA New York. In 2021, Leleisi'uao and Bergman Gallery participated in Tokyo International Art Fair, Japan

His 2006 exhibition Empowered Wallflower - Whitespace, Ponsonby was about a new generations relationship to Fa'a Samoa and how domestic aspects such as using a traditional salu broom are important.

In 2017 he won the Wallace Art Awards including a six-month residency in New York the 'International Studio and Curatorial Programme'.

His art work is held in the collections of Christchurch Art Gallery, The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the Auckland Art Gallery, the Chartwell Collection, and the James Wallace Arts Trust collection. And also Auckland University Collection, BCA Collection, Casula Powerhouse, Frankfurt Museum, Ilam University Collection, Manukau City Collection and Pataka Museum of Arts and Cultures.

Awards

 * 2017 - Paramount winner at the 26th annual Wallace Art Awards
 * 2021 - Senior Pacific Artist Award - Arts Pasifika Awards - Creative New Zealand.

Selected residencies

 * 2018 - 5 months residency at International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York, United States of America
 * 2010 - McCahon House Artist Residency, McCahon Trust, Titirangi, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 1999 - Research Scholarship at Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury
 * 2010 - Asia New Zealand Foundation residency with the Taipei Artist Village, Taiwan

Selected solo exhibitions
This is a small selection of exhibitions. By 2019 Leleisi'uao had already had 85 solo exhibitions, and many groups ones.


 * 2023: Andy Leleisi'uao: Beautiful Evening, Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, New Zealand
 * 2021: An Uncanny Catharsis of Unrequited Bones’ - Artis Gallery, Parnell, New Zealand
 * 2021: Consiliation Gatherers, Milford Galleries, Queenstown, New Zealand
 * 2019: Andy Leleisi'uao, Bergman Gallery, Tokyo International Art Fair, Tokyo, Japan
 * 2019: A Diasporic Pulse of Faith and Patience, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
 * 2019: KAMOAN MINE (survey exhibition), TSB Wallace Arts Centre, Pah Homestead, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2019: Embryonic Uslands, Milford Galleries, Dunedin, New Zealand
 * 2018: Mangere Aroha, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
 * 2018: A Clouded Diaspora, Milford Galleries, Queenstown, New Zealand
 * 2017: Untitled, Fresh Gallery, Ōtara, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2016: Ubiquitous People of Erodipolis, Milford Galleries, Dunedin, New Zealand
 * 2015: Atmosphere People of Moana, Milford Galleries, Dunedin, New Zealand
 * 2014: Waking up to the Obscurity People, Te Uru Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2014: Waking up to the Oculus People, Milford Galleries, Queenstown, New Zealand
 * 2013: The Choirs of Lupotea, Milford Galleries, Dunedin, New Zealand
 * 2012: Polyneitus Spring, Milford Galleries, Dunedin, New Zealand
 * 2011: The Ufological City of New York, BCA Gallery (now Bergman Gallery), VOLTA New York, New York, United States of America
 * 2011: The World of Erodipolis, Milford Galleries, Dunedin, New Zealand
 * 2009: Asefeka of the Unmalosa, Kips Gallery, Chelsea, New York, United States of America
 * 2006: Andy Leleisi'uao: Empowered Wallflower - Whitespace, Ponsonby, New Zealand
 * 2005: Cheeky Darkie - Whitespace, Ponsonby (featuring miniature sculptures), New Zealand

Selected group exhibitions
This is a small selection of exhibitions. By 2019 Leleisi'uao had already had 85 solo exhibitions, and many groups ones.


 * 2023: Horizon, Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2023: South-Versed23, Depot Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2023: Tusiata o le Tala le Vavau: Artists of the Forever Stories, Mangere Arts Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2022: Fa'atasi, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
 * 2022: Te Atuitanga - Beneath our Cloak of Stars, Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2019: The Big Blue, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
 * 2018: MPA1, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
 * 2017: Return to Havaiki, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook islands
 * 2010: MANUIA, BCA Gallery (now Bergman Gallery) the American Indian Community House, New York, United States of America

Book

 * Andy Leleisi'uao: KAMOAN MINE (Bergman Gallery, TSB Wallace Arts Centre, Creative New Zealand, 2019)