Jon Jeet is an artist of Ngāti Maniapoto / Fijian Indian descent with a Masters in painting from Ilam School of Fine Arts, Canterbury. He is also a registered Ngāi Tahu carver of pounamu, and has taught art at secondary and tertiary institutions, as well as the wider community.
Well-known at The Central for his wearable ‘toki'; he also makes larger sculptures. Having spent over a decade honing this craft; Jon finds that the toki in particular encapsulate the mauri (essence) of ones being and therefore become a vessel to retain and harbour part of ones life force.
When cutting into the original pounamu, the meditative sound of the grinder against the stone sets up a rhythm for Jeet, and he says,“time stops and you are just one with that stone.” Next comes the process of sanding, coarsely and then finely, to bring out the wairua (spirit) of the stone. He will then either drill directly into, or cut small wedges at each side on which to bind or thread the beautifully plaited cord. Says Jeet of the stone, "Just looking at it, there is that myriad of colours and imagery, that abstract imagery that you find in the raw stone whilst you're shaping it. When it leaves this place, someone is going to look at this and revere it and regard it as taonga.”
Jeet has carved larger pounamu pieces which reference the human head. In his 2018/19 self-portrait entitled ‘Hone’, (Māori for Jon) and in other works Jeet references the Māori tradition of Mokomokai, the preservation of human heads. The closed eyes and mouth sewn shut with harakeke (flax) fibre. His 2017 work, He Achuelian Angaanga, is a stunning skull carved and polished from a large piece of pounamu. Its colours and title refer to the archaeological history of human stone tool manufacturing defined by oval and pear shaped “hand-axes”.
A continuing interest in tool-making; Jeet’s 2022 work ‘Braided Rivers’ made from rusted steel draws from a larger work he created as part of the 2022 season of SCAPE public art which comments on the introduction of steel for the manufacture of tools replacing the traditional material of stone.
Working across mediums, Jeet’s drawing, ‘Art New Zealand volume 28-33’ was a finalist in the 2020 Parkin Drawing Prize. A woodcut print edition entitled, ‘I know this to be true, visual contents page’ has its basis on this drawing and like the aforementioned toki and sculptures are available to view and purchase.