Mathias Kauage, c. 1944–2003
Biography

Mathias Kauage (c. 1944–2003) was a leading figure in modern and contemporary art in Papua New Guinea. Born in the Highlands of Simbu Province, he developed a distinctive visual language through drawing, woodcuts, metalwork and painting. His subjects brought the experience of village life into conversation with the rapid changes unfolding in Port Moresby and the newly independent nation.

His artistic career began after he visited an exhibition of drawings by Timothy Akis at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1969. Kauage showed his own drawings to Georgina Beier, who encouraged him to work from his imagination rather than copy printed illustrations. She introduced him to printmaking and copper-beating, while her husband Ulli Beier helped create opportunities for contemporary art and literature through the university and the journal Kovave.

The Beiers had previously worked with artists and writers in Nigeria. Kauage therefore connects with the gallery’s African focus through a shared history of artistic encouragement and exchange, rather than through African nationality: he was Papua New Guinean. That distinction is central to his inclusion here.

Early fantastical figures and intricate monochrome drawings developed into colourful narratives about technology, politics and everyday life. Helicopters, aircraft and cars became recurring subjects, often combined with people wearing elaborate ornament. Kauage’s patterned surfaces and handwritten Tok Pisin texts offered an individual account of change, rather than a simple record of customary imagery.

Kauage exhibited at the University of Papua New Guinea in 1969 and 1970, at the Queensland Festival of the Arts in 1974, and repeatedly at the National Art School in Port Moresby during the later 1970s. His international career extended through Australia and Europe. In 1990, solo presentations at Iwalewa Haus in Bayreuth and Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin brought his work to German audiences.

His practice also extended beyond works on paper and canvas into murals and public commissions. The catalogues record murals for the Adelaide Festival Centre, the University of Papua New Guinea, the Neuendettelsau Mission in Germany and the Travelodge cafeteria in Port Moresby, as well as work for a youth club in Bayreuth. These projects placed his imagery within public and communal settings.

His work travelled internationally, and he received an OBE for services to the arts in 1998. His paintings and drawings are held by major public collections. His wife Elisabet and other members of the Kauage artistic circle continued an influential approach to narrative painting; institutional exhibitions have explored both his individual achievement and the wider family legacy.