His work is informed by his Samoan heritage and includes performance, film, painting, installation and sculpture.
[2] Curator Ron Brownson writes, Ioane's attitude to sculptural process is cosmological – his carvings bind present reality with a representation of the past.
[1]: 43 In 2005 Ioane won the Creative New Zealand Pacific Innovation and Excellence Art Award.
[3] In 2009 Whangarei Art Museum presented the first major survey of Ioane’s work, John Ioane – Journeyman Artist and the Pacific Paradox: A 25 Year Selective Survey Exhibition, curated by Museum Director, Scott Pothan.
[4] His work is held in both private and public collections, including the Auckland Art Gallery; the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa; University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, England; the National University of Samoa; the Tjibaou Cultural Centre, Nouméa, New Caledonia; the Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland; and the University of Auckland Art Collection.