Met’s Arts of Oceania Has Maia Nuku in Charge
New Zealander Dr Maia Nuku is showcasing Oceania to the world at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas Bywater writes in a story for The New Zealand Herald. Curator of Arts of Oceania,…
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Bottled Ocean 2122 by George Nuku Shows in Vienna
New Zealand artist George Nuku (Ngāti Kahungunu and Tūwharetoa) has presented his latest work, dubbed Bottled Ocean 2122, as an installation that imagines the state of the world’s oceans 100 years in the future…
Susan Te Kahurangi King’s Reputation Rising
In an article on the Christie’s website, specialists Anna Touzin and Isabel Millar select five abstract artists whose reputations are on the rise, all with works coming to auction in the British auction house’s…
Taika Waititi Portrait Wins Packing Room Prize
Sydney-based artist Claus Stangl has taken out one of Australia’s top art honours with his portrait of Academy Award-winning director Taika Waititi, The Guardian reports. Stangl won the packing room prize, a sub-category of the…
Yuki Kihara Celebrates Samoa’s Third Gender
Representing New Zealand at the Venice Biennale, the Samoan-New Zealand artist is foregrounding Samoa’s fa’afafine and transgender communities, and the climate crisis hidden from tourists, Jinghua Qian writes for The Guardian. Curated by Natalie…
Yuki Kihara Launches Solidarity Network at Biennale
The New Zealand Pavilion has announced the launch of the ‘Firsts Solidarity Network’, which seeks to support artists and pavilions making historic breakthroughs at the 59th Venice Biennale. The idea was conceived by Yuki…
Photographer Cody Ellingham Wanders Japan at Night
The latest project by New Zealand photographer Cody Ellingham and British composer and sound artist Simon James French is Wander the Night Japan which will be launched as a limited-edition 12″ vinyl record featuring…
Photographers Chase New Zealand’s Glowing Waves
Capturing bioluminescence, a phenomenon in which glowing algae give crashing waves an electric blue glow, requires technical skill and a bit of luck, Mike Ives reports in an article for The New York Times….
Artist Kate Newby Exhibits for Earth in Paris
In celebration of Earth Day 2022, Wallpaper discovers the group exhibition ‘Reclaim the Earth’, a wake-up call for humans to reconsider our relationship with the planet. Exhibiting two pieces in the show, held at…
Francis Upritchard Casts in Bronze for Huge Commission
New Zealand-born London-based Francis Upritchard, and Aucklander Lisa Reihana, are two of nine artists commissioned by the Art Gallery of NSW to create works that will go on display inside and outside Sydney Modern…
Tate Modern Surrealism Show Features Len Lye
An exhibition on Surrealism, co-curated by Tate Modern and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, explores the movement’s previously unacknowledged multi-culturalism. Artworks from six continents, including Oceania, explain how, says the BBC’s Matt Wilson. Surrealism…
Inside Musical Instruments with Charles Brooks
The New Zealand photographer Charles Brooks’ project “Architecture in Music” takes the viewer inside instruments, where music is created. A result achieved through a very specific technique. He explains his series to Enrico Ratto…
Getty Research Institute Acquires Max Gimblett Artist’s Book Collection
New Zealand American artist Max Gimblett ONZM has celebrated six decades of creativity with the Getty Center’s acquisition of an archive of 275 of his artist’s books. The Getty of Los Angeles is a leading…
Meet Todd Antony’s Subjects from Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone, the beautiful game is proving to be a source of joy and empowerment for amputee footballers, writes Deborah Nicholls-Lee for UK journalism magazine, Positive News. “They’re just phenomenal athletes,” said New…
Photographer Rebecca Zephyr Thomas Lights Up
As the chaotic fashions of the early 2000s are poised for revival, according to Dazed’s Emily Dinsdale, New Zealand-born photographer Rebecca Zephyr Thomas shares her images from the first time around for an art…
Pop Artist Billy Apple Defied Parochialism
In an article for New York-based magazine Artforum, contributing editor Thomas Crow looks back on the life of New Zealand artist Billy Apple, who died aged 85 in 2021. “Though he was much else besides,…
Riyadh Sculpture Prize for Artist Anna Korver
Taranaki sculptor Anna Korver has been awarded first place at the 2021 edition of Tuwaiq Sculpture for her work entitled, ‘The Lighthouses triptych’. “Her masterful work fuses abstract geometrical forms with multiple cultural associations, suggesting…
Angela Tiatia Shows at Massive Matisse Exhibition
In the accompanying exhibition to the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ new blockbuster exhibition Matisse: Life & Spirit, contemporary artists, including New Zealander Angela Tiatia, re-contextualise, challenge and complicate the modern master’s art…
Marie Mansfield Wins Australian Portrait Award
Ten-time finalist New Zealand-born artist Marie Mansfield has won Australia’s premier prize for female portraitists, the $30,000 Portia Geach Memorial Award, Helen Pitt reports for The Sydney Morning Herald. Mansfield won for Tilly, a painting…
Photographer Nicola Dove Shoots Iconic Bond Pic
Film stills photographer Nicola Dove, who hails from Nelson, has spent 20 years taking photos on sets. She’s photographed the likes of Dame Judi Dench, Liam Neeson, Dame Maggie Smith and Johnny Depp, Caroline…
Billy Apple an Artist Who Was His Own Life’s Work
“Over his long, provocative career, the artist Billy Apple changed his name, registered it as a trademark, branded products with it, had his genome sequenced and, finally, arranged to have his cells…
Rob Tennent’s Ode to Male Friendship and Summer
Summer in New Zealand can be a special kind of magic; the days of long ocean swims, covered in sand and sea salt and fingers dripping with fish and chip grease. It’s a feeling…
Webtoon Creator Rachel Smythe Busy and Paid
When graphic design graduate, Rachel Smythe, 35, tried to get a foot in the door of New Zealand’s creative industry in 2008, she was rejected at every turn. But in 2016, the BBC’s Mary-Ann…
HUM Ups Visibility of New Zealand Artists Abroad
New Zealand doesn’t have a dedicated cultural diplomacy wing like the British Council or the Goethe-Institut. To help amplify New Zealand visual art on the global stage, Pauline Autet established online platform Contemporary HUM….
NY Gallery Exhibits Susan Te Kahurangi King
“A small feast of King’s extraordinary drawings is currently part of an absorbing and knowledgeably assembled group show at the Andrew Edlin Gallery in New York,” Sanford Schwartz writes…
Māori-Influenced Umurangi Generation Compelling
“Umurangi Generation is as much a game of hide-and-seek as of photography: just as much time is spent exploring the warren-like scenes in order to locate the next item in the brief,” The Observer’s…
Artist David Boyce Exhibits in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s Karin Weber Gallery has announced a joint exhibition by New Zealander David Boyce and China’s Hiu Tung Lau, two artists in dialogue who between them cover a multitude of artistic expressions and…
Photographer Robin Hammond Hands Camera to Refugees
New Zealander Robin Hammond has spent two decades crisscrossing the developing world and telling other people’s stories, Guardian correspondent Lizzy Davies writes. For his latest project the award-winning photographer has embarked on a paradigm…
Artist Euan Macleod Scoops Huge Drawing Prize
Multi award-winning artist Christchurch-born Euan Macleod has won the Australian $30,000 Dobell Drawing Prize with a pastel-on-paper work entitled Borderlands, Nick Galvin reports for The Sydney Morning Herald. Each of the 15 postcard-sized images in…
Designer Josh Nelson Inspired by People-Watching
Josh Nelson doesn’t own a car. Because of this, he regularly takes public transport around his home of Auckland, watching locals interact on bus and rail, Giacomo Lee writes for a story published online…
Portland-Based Artist Vo Vo’s New Show Ignites
After working four months with a tapestry company to create a textile for an upcoming show, New Zealand-born Portland-based artist Vo Vo ran into a problem: The company refused to print the design, Shannon…
LA Gallery Owner Blown Away by Emma McIntyre
Auckland-born artist Emma McIntyre’s first show out of New Zealand, ‘Pour plenty on the worlds’, is now on in Los Angeles at Chris Sharp Gallery, the new establishment’s debut show. Sharp, who co-curated the New…
Artist Simon Denny Reflects on Berlin Art Programme
Co-founder of the Berlin Program for Artists (BPA) New Zealand-born Simon Denny, 39, (pictured right) explains why artists are essential to the fabric of Germany’s capital city in an article for UK art magazine, Frieze. “When…
Rebecca Thomas’ Polish Portraits Stand Out
“More Radical Empathy, a project by New Zealand-born photographer Rebecca Thomas, is a poignant and inspiring series of portraits of activists from the global queer community in London, bearing heartfelt slogans of resistance against…
JK Rowling Picks Sophie Mills’ Ickabog Illustration
Southland Girls’ High School student Sophie Mills, 12, was one of four New Zealanders amongst 32 submissions worldwide to have an illustration included in JK Rowling’s latest book, The Ickabog. About 18,000 entries were…
Max Gimblett Shows Juggernaut in San Francisco
San Francisco’s prestigious Hosfelt Gallery presents a solo exhibition of work by the esteemed 84 year-old painter, calligrapher, and Rinzai Zen monk Max Gimblett. The exhibition, entitled juggernaut, opens September 8, 2020 and…
Te Puna O Waiwhetū Reorients With Te Wheke
“That Aotearoa New Zealand offers a rich vantage point from which to consider the tensions and affordances of displacement is the central claim of the generous, sprawling exhibition ‘Te Wheke: Pathways Across Oceania’,” Matthew…
Artist John Ward Knox Paints a Prime Minister
Fortune has favoured John Ward Knox. The Auckland-born artist’s dual-layer portrait of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been recently released from Australian customs just in time to be entered into the Archibald Prize, Chloe…
Oscar Hetherington Wins Photo Award for Backwash
Otago-based Oscar Hetherington has won the Grand Prize at the Sony Alpha Awards 2020, Kiro Evans reports for The Scottish Sun. Hetherington was awarded the accolade for his submission ‘Backwash’, which was hailed as…
Artist Peter Boggs Explores the Ins and Outs
“Peter Boggs, the New Zealand-born, Blue Mountains-based artist, has been a regular exhibitor in Canberra for the past 22 years. Boggs champions a form of ‘slow art’, where he relies on the viewer to…
Artist Zac Langdon-Pole Looks to the Stars
Gazing at the stars is something that Berlin-based, Auckland-born artist Zac Landon-Pole has been doing for some time now. He had contemplated celestial mapping through his Passport (Argonauta) creations where meteorites were hand-carved to…
Hugh Stewart’s FaceTime Portraits Shots of Lockdown
Working from a pop-up studio in the garage of his Sydney home, New Zealand-born photographer Hugh Stewart has captured the experience and emotion of life in lockdown using just FaceTime and a strategically placed…
Artist Max Gimblett goes Oxherding with Lewis Hyde
Auckland born New Yorker and pre-eminent New Zealand artist Max Gimblett has produced his most significant book collaboration with American poet, cultural essayist and MacArthur Fellow Lewis Hyde. Published in September 2020 by the…
Photographer Amos Chapple’s Love Letter to Prague
High above street level, scores of magnificent statues gaze down over the historical centre of Prague. These rooftop figures – which normally go virtually unnoticed – are now the focus of a project by…
Capturing Copeisolation on Rakiura/Stewart Island
Originally from Estonia, Laire Purik is documenting the life of the residents of Rakiura “through windows, through the gates” as they cope with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. The BBC reports on her…
New York-Based Jess Johnson Finds Solace in Art
Some artists embrace chance and whimsy, but New Zealander Jess Johnson’s painstaking focus puts her into a space entirely under her command, John Bailey writes for WA Today. Right now, the contrast to the…
Endangered Kea Image a Shot of the 2000s
Photographers working for UK newspapers The Guardian and The Observer pick their favourite moments from over two decades reporting around the world. A fleeting moment, captured by Murdo MacLeod, in the South Island features. “The…
Tips for Virtual Travel From an Agoraphobic
While the coronavirus crisis has restricted most global travel, a typical day sees New Zealander Jacqui Kenny spend the morning in Arizonian desert, lunch in Kyrgyzstan and the evening wandering streets in Mongolia, Francesca…
Artist Zac Langdon-Pole Travels Time and Space
In 2018, Berlin-based New Zealander Zac Langdon-Pole, 32, won the BMW Art Journey prize at Art Basel Hong Kong, an award he used to fund a trip from Europe to his homeland, via several…
Arts Can Foster Resilience Says Blair French
The crisis and the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic will test New Zealander Blair French’s management strengths as much as his curatorial abilities, Sydney Morning Herald journalist Linda Morris writes. But the chief executive of…
Photographer Amos Chapple Shoots Cold on an iPhone
From December to January, the sun never rises in Murmansk, Russia. Amateur Photographer journalist Peter Dench chats to the New Zealand-born photographer Amos Chapple about his recent reportage, Forty Days Of Darkness, shot on…
Art is at the Frontline of Cathy Fitzgerald’s Fight
The Hollywood Forest in County Carlow, Ireland is a source of quality timber and an inspiration for an artistic couple and their network of collaborators. “We are discipline-jumpers,” New Zealand-born Cathy Fitzgerald says of…
Simon Denny Exhibits Amazon Cage in San Francisco
A new exhibit at San Francisco’s de Young Museum explores what it means to be human in an AI-saturated world with pieces like New Zealand artist Simon Denny’s work, “Amazon worker cage patent drawing…
Behind Security Through Obscurity is Simon Denny
The death knell of the Patagonia vest, at least as a symbol of utopianism co-opted by the tech and venture capital world and transformed into shorthand for a certain kind of unbridled corporate power,…
Emerald McGlashan’s Photos Showing in Kansas
The story of how New Zealander Emerald McGlashan’s artwork ended up in an art gallery in Lindsborg, United States is also the story of how she found a small college – Bethany – in…
First Ans Westra Exhibition In The USA Urban Drift: Aotearoa / New Zealand
The first U.S. exhibition by pioneering New Zealand documentary photographer Ans Westra opens at New York’s Anastasia Photo on the Lower East Side on December 5 ‘Urban Drift: Aotearoa / New Zealand’ centres around…
