Samuel Tupou is a Brisbane based artist specialising in screen-printing. He creates artworks that respond to his Tongan and Polynesian heritage, incorporating patterns derived from and inspired by traditional Pacific Island Tapa cloth design. His recent works draw inspiration from mathematical geometry and 80’s arcade game imagery as well as Pacific Island Tapa cloth design and fine mat weaving.
He often uses colour photographs from family photo albums as a starting point to evoke a strong sense of time and place. Colour segments act as oversized pixels that combine to form a recurring pattern and an overall image which is shrouded by pixilation. The photograph’s original details and subtleties are removed leaving the viewer with a series of colour structures which when pieced together allude to the original image. The works use proximity and distance to alter the viewers perception. Up close, the works appear to be an abstract assemblage of geometric shapes and colours, whilst at a distance an 8-bit halftone image takes shape.
