This exhibition presents a dialogue between Aotearoa-based painters Jeena Shin (South Korea) and Jamie Te Heuheu (Ngāti Tūwharetoa). It forms part of a series of dialogue exhibitions at Te Uru, and brings together two distinct artistic practices through a mutual conceptual inquiry.  

Moving through time examines Shin and Te Heuheu’s shared exploration of paint as a temporal medium. Each artist follows a distinct process that they make tangible to the viewer. Shin’s works follow a system, one that she repeats, layers and transforms in her paintings and wall-based works. Her compositions emerge through endless configurations, resulting in works that capture the passage of time while resisting simple linearity. The end isn’t predetermined. Instead, Shin activates her system as a creative force operating between time and space. Te Heuheu’s undulating surfaces record the movement of his body across the canvas. He mobilises the possibilities of impasto in broad strokes that retain the texture of his laden brush. Through organic repetition and jazz-inspired titles, a musical type of rhythm emerges.

Their works demonstrate a shared attention to the possibilities of surface to record memory. In Shin’s Time Crystal works, she uses quantum theory as a conceptual framework for exploring colour, composition and light. Subtle tonal and textural variations capture a quantum system of particles in a constant state of motion. Distinct layers simultaneously imply past, present and future. While drawing on the history of abstraction, Te Heuheu’s works increasingly speak to Te Ao Māori. The four panels that make up For All We Know recall the architecture of the wharenui and the rhythm of whakairo, while repeated gestures evoke tukutuku weaving. In this way, Te Heuheu’s works are grounded in place and memory, carrying both personal and cultural meaning. 

In presenting these two artists in dialogue, the exhibition highlights their shared interest in process, repetition, movement and the temporal qualities of paint. Both artists capture the passage of time through repetition and gesture. Yet their approaches are distinct, with the exhibition shifting between geometric and gestural; sharp and fluid; quantum physics and jazz music.