September 3, 2026
Susan Te Kahurangi King
The Page Before Me
James Fuentes Gallery
August 1 - September 12, 2026
Susan Te Kahurangi King
Susan Te Kahurangi King was born in Te Aroha, New Zealand in 1951. Her ability to speak began to fail when she was four years old, and by the age of eight she stopped talking all together. Though numerous medical professionals were consulted over the years, she was not given the diagnosis of autism-spectrum disorder until the age of sixty-four in 2015. She began to draw around the time she stopped talking, bringing to life that which she observed and intuited, as well as what was in her head, showing a vidid imagination. King was much loved by her parents and family (she was one of twelve children) and her drawing practice was encouraged and applauded. She drew copiously into her forties, then suddenly stopped, only to resume again in 2008 through the encouragement of her mother and the filmmaker Dan Salmon who began making a documentary about her. At present, she is still drawing, while also exhibiting works world wide from all stages of her career.
Though not formally trained as an artist, King developed her own visual language, creating unique works with compositional complexity. Like other self-taught or so called 'outsider artists' and because she is non verbal, King's motivations remain unknown. How an untrained and reclusive artist enters the gallery and museum world is an open question. In Susan Te Kahurangi King's case, it began with her sister posting her drawings on Facebook which were then noticed by both artists and collectors. The collector Peter Fay arranged an exhibition of her drawings at the Callan Park Gallery in Australia in 2009. Later the works were shown at Outsider Art Fairs where they sold well and caught the eye of numerous collectors. Things quickly moved forward from there and at seventy-five, King is now considered one of New Zealand greatest living artists. Her work is in the collection of MoMA, New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art as well as owned by the graffiti artist KAWS.
King's ouevre amounts to thousands of works over the years that have been carefully organized and archived by Petia Cole, one of her younger sisters. The earliest work on view at James Fuentes Gallery dates from 1958-60 and the latest from 2020. Most of the untitled drawings are circa 1960s-70s. King often drew with graphite and colored pencils in notebooks or on torn sheets of paper. She also was fond of found paper — pages with printed columns or publishing marks, as well as notecards and discarded drawings by children. Like many prolific outsider artists, King's works can be appreciated for their idiosyncrasies and the recurrent themes that are noticed over time when regarding such a vast collection.
King's imagery is filled with figures, plants and animals, as well as cartoon characters that are interpretations of Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. It seems like she begins each drawing using graphite to make black and white outlines of fragmented figures or animals that are carefully filled in to become different tones of gray. She then applies color using pencil or crayon to highlight different aspects of the drawing and create a rhythm that moves the eye through the composition. She plays with figure ground relationships and purposely confuses the physical space depicted in the image. Clowns and gnomes cluster to the side of one drawing, their oversized feet become orange blobs that dance in every direction. Houses get lost in ravines in the top of one work that has map-like qualities.
In a number of drawings she uses three-column printing templates that divide the composition into sections. In one, a light graphite sketch of a bear-like animal in the landscape fills the left column. It morphs into a colored array of backwards numbers in the center and in the final column the numbers become a chain that curve upwards and off the paper. A small vertical graphite drawing feels as if it could be the beginnings of a comic strip. It features a seated dog centered in a cloud-like shape. Above and below are boxes, zig-zags and gesturing, gloved hands like those of Mickey Mouse.
A large colorfully decorated egg-shape fills another drawing created with crayons that cover up much of the image below. A number of King's pencil-drawn figures play in the corners of the paper, floating off the edges away from an ambiguous quasi-urban scene that also features a fragment of her interpretation of a car. In another work a flock of penguin-like birds march across the composition moving away from a black and white landscape into blue and red lines that sign for flying birds.
Floating and morphing characters fill many of the pictures. The works delight in a sense of wonder and movement. Places that could be the heavens are created, as well as spaces that sign for cities. King's drawings have a child-like simplicity as well as a sense of urgency. While they are filled with a charming naivete, they are also quite complex The thirty plus images that make up the exhibit The Page Before Me are just a small sampling of King's work. Seen together, they form a narrative that celebrates color and line and form. They also pose more questions than they answer about what motivated King to create them.
The Page Before Me
James Fuentes Gallery
August 1 - September 12, 2026
Susan Te Kahurangi King
Susan Te Kahurangi King was born in Te Aroha, New Zealand in 1951. Her ability to speak began to fail when she was four years old, and by the age of eight she stopped talking all together. Though numerous medical professionals were consulted over the years, she was not given the diagnosis of autism-spectrum disorder until the age of sixty-four in 2015. She began to draw around the time she stopped talking, bringing to life that which she observed and intuited, as well as what was in her head, showing a vidid imagination. King was much loved by her parents and family (she was one of twelve children) and her drawing practice was encouraged and applauded. She drew copiously into her forties, then suddenly stopped, only to resume again in 2008 through the encouragement of her mother and the filmmaker Dan Salmon who began making a documentary about her. At present, she is still drawing, while also exhibiting works world wide from all stages of her career.
Though not formally trained as an artist, King developed her own visual language, creating unique works with compositional complexity. Like other self-taught or so called 'outsider artists' and because she is non verbal, King's motivations remain unknown. How an untrained and reclusive artist enters the gallery and museum world is an open question. In Susan Te Kahurangi King's case, it began with her sister posting her drawings on Facebook which were then noticed by both artists and collectors. The collector Peter Fay arranged an exhibition of her drawings at the Callan Park Gallery in Australia in 2009. Later the works were shown at Outsider Art Fairs where they sold well and caught the eye of numerous collectors. Things quickly moved forward from there and at seventy-five, King is now considered one of New Zealand greatest living artists. Her work is in the collection of MoMA, New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art as well as owned by the graffiti artist KAWS.
King's ouevre amounts to thousands of works over the years that have been carefully organized and archived by Petia Cole, one of her younger sisters. The earliest work on view at James Fuentes Gallery dates from 1958-60 and the latest from 2020. Most of the untitled drawings are circa 1960s-70s. King often drew with graphite and colored pencils in notebooks or on torn sheets of paper. She also was fond of found paper — pages with printed columns or publishing marks, as well as notecards and discarded drawings by children. Like many prolific outsider artists, King's works can be appreciated for their idiosyncrasies and the recurrent themes that are noticed over time when regarding such a vast collection.
King's imagery is filled with figures, plants and animals, as well as cartoon characters that are interpretations of Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck. It seems like she begins each drawing using graphite to make black and white outlines of fragmented figures or animals that are carefully filled in to become different tones of gray. She then applies color using pencil or crayon to highlight different aspects of the drawing and create a rhythm that moves the eye through the composition. She plays with figure ground relationships and purposely confuses the physical space depicted in the image. Clowns and gnomes cluster to the side of one drawing, their oversized feet become orange blobs that dance in every direction. Houses get lost in ravines in the top of one work that has map-like qualities.
In a number of drawings she uses three-column printing templates that divide the composition into sections. In one, a light graphite sketch of a bear-like animal in the landscape fills the left column. It morphs into a colored array of backwards numbers in the center and in the final column the numbers become a chain that curve upwards and off the paper. A small vertical graphite drawing feels as if it could be the beginnings of a comic strip. It features a seated dog centered in a cloud-like shape. Above and below are boxes, zig-zags and gesturing, gloved hands like those of Mickey Mouse.
A large colorfully decorated egg-shape fills another drawing created with crayons that cover up much of the image below. A number of King's pencil-drawn figures play in the corners of the paper, floating off the edges away from an ambiguous quasi-urban scene that also features a fragment of her interpretation of a car. In another work a flock of penguin-like birds march across the composition moving away from a black and white landscape into blue and red lines that sign for flying birds.
Floating and morphing characters fill many of the pictures. The works delight in a sense of wonder and movement. Places that could be the heavens are created, as well as spaces that sign for cities. King's drawings have a child-like simplicity as well as a sense of urgency. While they are filled with a charming naivete, they are also quite complex The thirty plus images that make up the exhibit The Page Before Me are just a small sampling of King's work. Seen together, they form a narrative that celebrates color and line and form. They also pose more questions than they answer about what motivated King to create them.