Helvetiki by Matt Moriarty

Limited Edition Screenprint

Full sheet size in millimetres: 500 x 700
Edition of 100 prints. Printed, signed and numbered by Matt Moriarty.

Now sold out. Re-working the tiki motif has created some of the most memorable images in NZ art, Helvetiki brought a new twist to this fruitful genre - please note this edition is just about sold out with just one print left. In a typically thorough artist’s statement Matt takes us through the process and ideas that created this print.

He writes “This graphic was designed in 2007, a year which saw the 50 yr anniversary of the type face Helvetica, and was inspired by the release of the film by Gary Hustwit. Helvetica (the film) looks at the proliferation of one typeface as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives.

Helvetica (the typeface) seems well versed when a standardised approach to typography is required, commonly used around public infrastructure for its neutrality - some describe it as having a ‘likeness to air’.

Around that time I had been thinking largely about the prolific commercial use of what we as New Zealander’s describe as symbols of our identity, in particular the use of the Heitiki, more commonly referred to as Tiki. The Tiki is part of a kitsch and inconsistent visual language representing who we are, both in our own country and abroad. Are these symbols and their varied use in commercial applications losing their strength of origin, importance and meaning? It’s certainly not an unasked question.

By proposing a standard commercial graphic use of the Tiki - Helvetiki, perhaps we can save the face and importance of one of our national treasures and finally start looking beyond the done for the greater development of our visual identity.

Prints like Helvetiki by Matt Moriarty are for sale in these collections at New Zealand Fine Prints:

Matt Moriarty Prints
Tiki
Maori Design & Art
Screenprints
Limited Editions (NZ)