Art Beat with Rosalie Crawford

Jimmy James Kouratoras brings to the Art Body Gallery at Mount Maunganui aluminiferous ether of colour dimensions that's both whimsical but complex. His work evokes the sense of awakening to early stories time has lost; of forests, hidden worlds and the beginnings of rivers and seas.

Rather than being dark and ominous, as one may expect from a painter drawing from mythologies or beliefs of a dual Greek and Maori heritage, his lucent canvases and prints open up the vibrant life space he's found within.

Jimmy James Kouratoras is exhibiting his work at Mount Maunganui's Art Body Gallery.

A place where two dream clouds collide, and merge into each other, where he weaves together colour like it is a harmony of melodies with expressions of beliefs deeply felt.

He brings us waiora; a feeling of health or soundness. And he brings us mauri; the life force which exists in everything. Simply put, the energy behind his work, and art which explores the relationship exists between mauri and waiora; this is what he paints.

Born in New Zealand to a Greek father and a Maori mother, of Tainui descent, his early enthusiasm for colour developed through living closely with his grandmother, a prolific weaver and artist, and at 16 he started painting.

Exposed to his rich family history in Greece during the early 1980s, he's worked for 18 years in scenic freelance work in the film and advertising industry.

He now paints full-time in his Auckland studio, where his immigrant and indigenous inheritance coexist within a contemporary New Zealand city space.

Art Body Gallery will be exhibiting Kouratoras's work for the six weeks. Art Body is at 229A Maunganui Rd, Mount Maunganui.

Or visit Art Body Gallery at www.facebook.com/artbodygalleryexhibitions

Jimmy James Kouratoras, with his work at Mount Maunganui's Art Body Gallery.

Artwork by Jimmy James Kouratoras.