Character Studies by Lolani Dalosa, is a new series of work commissioned by Papatūnga for the Te Tuhi billboards. Dalosa’s practice encompasses an ongoing development of print, mixed media and object-based installations that oscillate between analogue and digital processes.
For Character Studies, Dalosa renders two inverse sets of high-contrast blue and white silhouettes, one at each of the billboard locations. Each of the billboard scenes plays on one-liners; idioms like “hung out to dry”; archetypes like the “snotty nose neighbourhood kid”.
Character Studies continues Dalosa’s interest in cultural iconography, featuring recognisable characters and objects from his visual lexicon.
About the artist
Lolani Dalosa's most recent exhibition, Someone's at The Door, was held at the Papakura Art Gallery in September 2023, characterising a shift in his practise into an installative direction. Prior to that, he exhibited at Corbans Arts Estate in 2021 in Do Not Alter, and at The Nix in 2022 in Cross My Heart. Since 2018, he has also been exhibiting with art collective Raroboys. Dalosa lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.