FLAGSHIP GALLERY
VIRUT FLAGSHIP GALLERY
COLOUR YOUR LIFE, LOVE YOUR ART
Artbay Gallery was established in 2004 and has organically grown into what it is today. Visit our multi-award-winning gallery in person to experience our unique, vibrant and ever-changing collection of New Zealand and International contemporary art. View the latest curated collections of art at Artbay Gallery, Virut Flagship Gallery and Lightworx Gallery above Louis Vuitton.
Our galleries promise is to be a beacon for art lovers and art aficionados worldwide. We stand out from the crowd by offering contemporary art for sale within a friendly and welcoming gallery environment. All 3 galleries are situated in the heart of Queenstown, on the waterfront amidst the breath-taking landscapes and cultural vibrancy of the area.
ILLUMINATING FINE ART
Lightworx Gallery by the Artbay Gallery Group offers an intimate, contemporary experience with a big city vibe. This gallery features a stunning collection of gleaming light art by internationally recognized, award-winning artists.
The highest quality light technology is used to create these spectacular works, but it is the innovative combination of light, colour and space that creates a magical effect on those who view them. The positive relationship between light and colour cultivates a meditative state, which is one of the biggest reasons why these light works are proving to be so popular with such a wide range of audiences. These elegant artworks are pivotal in uplifting your mood, your emotions, and the space in which it’s hung.
FIONA KERR GEDSON
GARETH BARLOW
ILYA VOLYKHINE
ISAAC PETERSEN
JIMMY JAMES KOURATORAS
KATE BERGIN
MAICO CAMILO MARK
LIGHT ARTISTS
MAX PATTÉ
ROBERT JAHNKE
TIM CHRISTIE
WENDY HANNAH
PETER HACKETT
RACHAEL ERRINGTON
SALLY BULLING
SAM FOLEY
SIMON MAX BANNISTER
VIRUT
SUPERIMPOSE
It is often difficult to imagine if a specific artwork will suit your space.
How will it ’feel’ in your home?
Let’s experiment with your blank walls!
It’s a complimentary service, simply email us images of your blank wall and your choice of artwork from our online collection and we will place the artwork in your space.
An art consultant will email through a digital render, this is a perfect way to help you visualise how your art will look in your home.
We can superimpose sculptures too!
Inside or outside, send us a few great pics of the space and your choice of sculpture and we’ll work our magic to make it come to life for you.
OUR SERVICES
RESIDENTIAL
We offer a highly discreet, personalized art advisory service that covers all aspects of building, managing and realizing the potential of your own art collection. We are in the strongest possible position to advise clients, as first-time buyers, seasoned collectors and private individuals. We love working with families and seeing the WOW factor that the right piece of art will bring to your home.
COMMERCIAL
From a painting in your entrance foyer to a large scale commercial development, we make it enjoyable and easy to acquire art that is right for your business. Our Art Agency consultancy service can provide specialist advice for business investments. We tailor every project to its individual needs, looking after every detail and managing every aspect of the process, from concept to budget management, logistics, curation and installation.
COMMISSIONS
Commissioning an artwork is a personalised experience that enables you to take an active role in the development of a piece of work. Let us guide you through the process of finding and commissioning an artist, so you can aquire a unique artwork that suits your tastes and your space. Be it a small or large commission, we will oversee everything from development to production, we also handle contracts and related administration so you don’t have to.
BEN YOUNG
Residing in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand, Ben Young is a self-taught artist who has been working with the materials of glass, concrete and steel since setting up his studio in 2011 and has exhibited alongside wellknown glass artists both internationally and in New Zealand.
Having spent most of his life living in the beautiful Bay of Plenty (North Island, NZ) it seemed natural for him to explore the local landscape and surroundings for early inspiration in his art. A keen surfer and a boat builder by profession, he is largely influenced by the ocean and brings these passions together in his evocative glass forms. His time spent in nature is integral to his making process.
His fascination with the translucent and fluid nature of glass led him to the exploration of the medium. His practice explores the relationship between man-made structures and the natural world. Fascinated by the contrast between the organic forms found in nature and the geometric shapes of our built environment, his work seeks to bridge these two seemingly disparate worlds. Intrigued by the way that nature and architecture coexist, he seeks to capture this balance in his work.
Each of Young’s sculptural works are hand drawn, hand cut and handcrafted from clear sheet float glass, then laminated layer upon layer to create the final form. He constructs models, draws templates, makes custom jigs and then cuts the layers with a glazier’s hand-tool. The complexity comes from the planning phase, where he says ‘I do a lot of thinking before I even start to draw or cut’. He then sketches the concept by hand and creates a plan using traditional technical drawing techniques: ‘I work with 2D shapes and have to figure out how to translate that into a 3D finished piece. Sometimes my starting point changes dramatically as I have to find a way to layer the glass to create certain shapes.’
CATHERINE ROBERTS
Catherine Roberts has been painting for nearly 20 years from her Wellington studio and has exhibited in galleries around New Zealand.
Robert’s work is the result of an intuitive dialogue, between artist and canvas, with no set intentions, but with a purpose to captivate the viewer to carry on the conversation. Driven to find balance, using colour, texture and contrast to form a harmonious rhythm, eventually creating intangible and obscure realms. The artist works with large scale mixed media canvases, approaching each painting with an acceptance of serendipity; where areas of paint move unhindered and colours are given reign to compose themselves.
Roberts says, ”Nothing about my work is perfect. It is a natural process, lead by a feeling of balance, resulting in an organic final piece. From the applied texture to the frames, all put together with the same hands... If my art were a couch, you’d feel comfortable about putting your feet up.”
Over the last two decades, the journey of Robert’s art has helped her find the confidence to dispel self-placed inhibitions. She says, ”I am not confidently spoken in life, but it seems I found my voice through my work.”
CHEREE TE ORANGAROA DOWNES
Cheree Te Orangaroa Downes (Ngati Tūwharetoa, Ngati Hine, Ngati Hikairo, Ngati Tutemohuta) is a local Māori artist from Murihiku, Southland. Her work is crafted using traditional techniques handed down through many generations.
Te Orangaroa Downes’ tactile artwork fuses tradition with contemporary art elements; her passion, and the historical and storytelling elements capture the viewer. She was taught to weave over twenty years ago by her family, friends and elders. She weaves flax and flax fibre and combines these with various materials such as metal, glass, animal skins and rustic woods.
She has a strong background in the arts, performing arts and education. The artist has been involved in a huge number of cultural shows, galleries and exhibitions across New Zealand and Australia. She has completed several commissions for local marae, government agencies, N.G.O’s, Education providers, businesses and private collectors. Her artwork is held in private and corporate collections nationally and throughout the world.
Her art primarily tells stories of how Māori identify and interact with the environment, with particularly strong connections to her home in Murihiku (Southland). “When I make my art, I often think about our elders who are not here anymore,” she says. “I love that people can relate and connect to this in their own way. They can find themselves in it, the colours, shapes or the whole piece may relate to them, their family or their lives as a whole.”
ELAN
Elan lives by the philosophy of ‘This Is It’. Each brushstroke, each splash of paint, every dribble of ink, celebrates his philosophy... ‘This Is It’.
When he isn’t in his studio, Elan travels the world conducting ‘Breakthrough Thinking Programmes’ for global organisations. These programmes are designed to free up peoples’ thinking and how they interpret their place in the world. His art is an expression of the profound inquiry into what it means to be human. Although educated in the fields of psychology and education, Elan is more of a spiritual philosopher, and his work is reflective of that.
“I want people to be in front of my paintings and be present to the gift of NOW. I want them to feel something within themselves, a recognition of sorts. A recognition of who they are and the timeless connection that we all share.”
Elan’s work is reminiscent of contemporary Japanese art, his ink washes (sumi-e), reflect the simplicity and importance of space central to both art and spirituality. At the core of his paintings is a certain sense of wisdom, a meditative state of self-discovery. It’s a sense of Zen, one Elan would describe as an “Aha Moment, which can often enlighten our journey.”
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Elan came to New Zealand in 1992 and became a New Zealand citizen in 1997. While living in Silicon Valley, CA, Elan had solo shows at The MindCenter in Palo Alto and at the St. Supery Estate Vineyard in Napa, CA. He also had a solo shows at Artbay Gallery in Queenstown, NZ in 2011, 2020 and 2021.
FIONA KERR GEDSON
Award-winning artist Fiona Kerr Gedson is well known for her intricate compositions of skillfully arranged feathers, indicative of Kahu Huruhuru – traditional Māori feather cloaks. These cloaks or Korowai are highly treasured as displays of mana – honour and prestige.
Based in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, within the boundaries of the Whakatōhea Iwi, Gedson grew up in the presence of the Tuhoe people and these shared relationships have contributed to her ongoing love and respect for te toi o otatau tipuna – the art of our forbearers. Gedson’s childhood, her environment, the M ā ori women who taught her to weave and her precious family ties are all expressed in her art, in a mix of traditional skills and contemporary vision.
Mandala (Sanskrit for Circle) which is a representation of an ancient form of Tibetan Buddhism, also features in her work. The Mandala is a complex circular design that rotates, reflects and repeats, intended to draw the eye inward to its centre. The mandala is basically a representation of the universe, a consecrated area that serves as a receptacle for the gods and as a collection point of universal forces.
Gedson creates her work from a unique straw bale studio in the Eastern Bay of Plenty within the boundaries of the Whakatohea iwi, from whom her four children descend. Her works have been exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and Los Angeles, France and Japan, and are treasured in many overseas collections.
GARETH BARLOW
Gareth Barlow, an accomplished painter and carver from the Hutt Valley, Wellington, is a sixth-generation New Zealander whose work deeply engages with Māori traditions and his own cultural heritage. His art reflects a profound connection to both indigenous culture and the natural landscape of Aotearoa. Barlow works primarily with a blend of acrylics and charcoals to evoke an ephemeral and transcended quality to the structure of his large-scale portraits and symbolic compositions featuring native New Zealand flora and fauna, as well as portraiture & symbology from his New Zealand and Celtic roots.
The series Sharing Memories, (charcoal on paper) shows Barlow’s skill in exquisite detail, where he portrays native and endemic birds in a traditional portrait style. Deeply embedded in Māori folklore, the birds represent both Māori and Pākehā perspectives, embodying the enduring connection between people and their environment. Through this series, Barlow highlights the birds as icons of resilience and unity, reflecting on their role as guardians of the land and emblems of cultural heritage.
Barlow’s series of paintings, uses acrylic to portray cultural portraiture, and more recently, birdlife. He meticulously captures fine details with precise brushwork, while also employing bold, earthy expressive colour choices to convey emotional depth. His portraits often exhibit a dynamic interplay between realism and symbolism, creating a striking balance of clarity and artistic freedom. The birds are depicted with a proud, almost regal presence.
ILYA VOLYKHINE
Based in Devonport, Auckland Ilya Volykhine is a critically acclaimed artist. Volykhine’s latest works continue to expand upon strategies of collage, drawing, and painting. The newer artworks conjure earlier established themes and imagery mined from a myriad of sources including movies, cult icons, literature, television, and his personal history.
Volykhine’s paintings are darkly comic, the characters within his pictures battling their way through the anxieties and joy of life, his narratives loose, playful and chaotic. What lies at the heart of these paintings is Volykhine’s intuitive process, his willingness and his confidence to allow the story to unfold as he paints. His expressive brushwork opens up a space for his characters to breathe and take on a life yet unexplored.
He has painted numerous public and private commissions. Commercial projects include the newly opened Ebb Hotel in Dunedin, the new QT Hotel in the Auckland Viaduct, and American Cruise Lines. His artworks also feature in both the Presidential Suites and the Junior Suites of the Revere Hotel in Boston. Volykhine has work in the Saatchi collection and numerous private collections all over the world.
Volykhine’s most recent list of accolades includes being selected as a finalist in the 2021, 2017, and 2015 Walker & Hall Art Award exhibitions. He was the winner of the Michael Evans Figurative Award in 2017 and a finalist in the 2016 Adam Portraiture Award and the NZ Painting & Printmaking Award. International accolades include work in the Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Blake Prize for Religious Art.
ISAAC PETERSEN
Hyper-real paintings of the ocean, rivers and rugged landscape of New Zealand have established Isaac Petersen firmly as an artist. River water flowing over boulders, white water smashing onto rocks, and contemplative subjects such as waves lapping on the sand are rendered with phenomenal detail, depth, and transparency by Petersen. His figurative series depicting women in and around water is equally seductive, especially when he captures the figure diving into the water.
These works are so real you can feel the sun on your shoulders and hear the water ripple and splash. His wife, Erika is often the female figure in his paintings. Poolside scenes of her floating with sunlight on her skin or submerged under the surface are so technically brilliant they defy belief.
His paintings, without question, take the viewer with them. The work is predominantly large-scale – by amplifying the subject, it intensifies the connection of the viewer with his painted world. The exquisite detail he achieves and the way he captures light are a pure delight to view.
Petersen grew up on the rugged shores of the North Island’s west coast and now splits his time between the coastal towns of New Plymouth and Australia’s Byron Bay. Painting for over two decades he has artwork in private collections around the world and is represented by dealer galleries in Sydney, Queenstown, Napier, and Auckland.
JIMMY JAMES KOURATORAS
Jimmy James Kouratoras is an Auckland based artist whose work depicts a rich, almost decadent examination of contemporary culture.
His artwork has received critical acclaim both at home and internationally, winning the People’s Choice Award at the Brisbane Contemporary Art Prize 2016 and was selected as a finalist for the National Contemporary Art Prize (2017).
Kouratoras’s artwork is heavily influenced by his Māori and Greek heritage – two different cosmologies bound together to create works that beautifully reflect narratives of whakapapa. Over the past 25 years, Jimmy has developed his unique style of layering texture and imagery along with using vivid pop colour combinations, representing the connections between the past, present, and future.
He describes his work as “much more than a hybrid or fusion, but a deliberate layering of story and truth that will reveal itself to the beholder through a series of vibrant textures”.
The artist’s passion for finding equilibrium between mind, body, and spirit contributes to his natural ability to create works that so beautifully radiate Aroha (love).
KATE BERGIN
Kate Bergin’s artworks revel in the unusual, the precarious and the unexpected. Far from ’still’ these paintings quiver with movement, laughter and life. Reality recedes in the fantastical oil paintings, which feature all manner of creatures sitting upon tabletops with spoons, guns, keys, spectacles, and rotary telephones. Animals poised to leap from the canvas, birds to take flight; compositions on the brink of collapse. Her art, intoxicating and absurd, capture the mundane and the exotic in virtuosic detail.
She was trained at The Victorian College of Arts from 1990-1992, drew inspiration from the close access she had to the National Gallery of Victoria, where daily she could get up close and personal to all of the amazing old master paintings in their collection. It was here that she honed her painterly technique. The artist observes live animals at the zoo and museum taxidermy displays to create her realistic depictions. Yet, in her final compositions, bends reality, allowing animals of various species to coexist.
Bergin’s work is held in the Art Gallery of NSW (gifted by Margaret Olley AC), Bendigo Art Gallery, Artbank and significant private collections. She has been the recipient of several major awards, including the Albany Art Prize, The Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize (Highly Commended) the Arthur Guy Memorial Art Prize (People’s Choice) and was a finalist in 2011 and 2013 Sulman Prize. With a career spanning over 25 years, Bergin has become a highly collectable artist.
MAICO CAMILO
Originating from Brazil, Maico Camilo has been a professional artist for almost 2 decades, after embarking on a transformative artistic journey that first brought him to New Zealand in 2005.
Guided by the dynamic interplay of acrylics and mixed media, Maico’s artistic compositions delve into the depths of his personal narrative. Through his work, he invites us to question established paradigms while embracing a diverse range of artistic vocabularies. His creations extend an open invitation to confront the fundamental truths of our world, bridging geographical and cultural divides.
Having lived across many different continents with his partner, Maico’s artistic voice resonates across collections worldwide, having been invited to exhibit in some major Art locations such as New York, Milan, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, and Venice, amongst other art capital cities. As Maico returns to the embrace of New Zealand, the place where his artistic journey began, his art continues to evolve. It acts as a mirror, reflecting the multi-faceted dimensions of existence, that beckons viewers to engage with the complexities of life, as he extends his hand and heart through the canvas, his artistic prism capturing the essence of the human experience.
The culmination of his artistic journey is epitomized in his recent gallery show (2023), at the Auckland Art Museum - He was invited to exhibit in a collaborative contemporary exhibition, showcasing interdisciplinary Brazilian Artists. Works in this exhibition encapsulate experiences, emotions, and creativity from his global travels.
MARK HILL
Based in his studio at The Hills, Arrowtown, Mark Hill’s works are primarily large-scale, forged and welded stainless and Corten steel sculptures. His works have been sent across the world to the USA, Germany, Australia and beyond.
Born in Whangarei, New Zealand, Hill studied at the Queensland College of Art in Australia before embarking on a career in graphic design and photography. On a whim, he bought a welder and began experimenting with sheet steel. Mark held his first solo exhibition in 2002 and has worked full time as a sculptor and artist ever since.
His self-taught, experimental style has led to a striking and organic form of sculpture that Mark is widely recognised for. Hill works on commissioned pieces for private collections, as well as having public works across New Zealand including Katikati, Wanaka and Arrowtown. In Queenstown, he is known for his elegant and distinctive Maori Chief sculptures greeting international visitors and travellers at Queenstown Airport. These sculptures are over seven meters tall, with over 20,000 spot welds in each piece.
Recently, Hill’s works have been typically flowing, organic silouhettes and semi-abstract human forms. The welding components are not just a means of holding the works together; the welding is accentuated and worked to add a decorative finish resembling cast metal.
NEMO JANTZEN
Born in 1970, Dutch Artist Nemo Jantzen studied art, design and photography at the RTO Art Academy in Rotterdam. ARTSY recently named Jantzen one of the top ten most in-demand artists. Jantzen’s work is highly acclaimed in most leading art markets, art fairs and galleries in New York, London, Paris, Amsterdam and Singapore and can be found in renowned art collections, both public institutions and private.
After his studies, he worked as a graphic designer and billboard artist while further developing his technique, a unique approach to materials and style influenced by pop art, and a critique of today’s mass media. Finally, after several years in Belgium, he settled in Spain where he dedicated his career to fine art.
Always staying abreast of the rapidly changing contemporary art world, Jantzen’s innovative and fresh ‘Dome’ work explores the powerful presence of visual culture in the modern world. Interrogating influences from television, billboards, music, and magazines, Jantzen mixes both photography and pointillism to create art that question the perception and perspective of mass media.
After collecting thousands of images from iconic movies, and vintage comic strips, Jantzen organizes them by theme and colour and embeds them in small handmade resin spheres. He aligns dozens of the spheres together to create large-scale mixed media photographic portraits. The work requires and inspires viewers to constantly investigate their perspective through the interplay of walking up close and standing at a distance.
PETER HACKETT
“I am not just using oil paint to describe a meadow, I am using a meadow to describe oil paint.” - Peter Hackett
Peter Hackett’s paintings invoke notions of passion, scent, texture, colour and the incomparable beauty of nature. His impasto layers are thick enough that the brush strokes are intentionally obvious, these brush strokes play an important role in the theatrical light in the painting. His painting style creates a unique, almost sculptural quality. The intoxicating artworks feel close enough to touch and are so seductive that it’s hard not to. Hackett creates a feeling of intimacy and this is enhanced by viewing from a low perspective, allowing us to lose ourselves further into the meadows of flowers.
Hackett seeks to establish a dominant theme in his work, concentrating his efforts on maturing the subject matter and technique without surrendering to the influences of social trends. His inspiration is the swathes of flowers that fill the fields surrounding his Dairy Flat studio during spring and summer.
The artist studied in Paris under the guidance of highly respected artists such as Camillo Otero and Suzanne Runacher. His time spent at the Paris American Academy of Fine Arts and Languages became the catalyst for the experimentation evident in Hackett’s work. His work is recognized worldwide, and his paintings are represented in significant private and public collections in America, England, Italy, France, Israel, Australia and New Zealand. He has been a finalist in several major art awards including the Air New Zealand Art Award, The Nola Holmwood Memorial Portrait Prize, The Elder Este Art Award and The Windsor and Newton Art Award.
RACHAEL ERRINGTON
Rachael Errington’s childhood unfolded in the midst of an English wood, where she and her brother spent countless hours crafting dens and treehouses. This early connection with nature sparked her enduring fascination with painting trees.
In 1999, Rachael pursued her education in fine art, textiles, and a BA (Hons) in Illustration in the UK, which significantly influenced her current artistic practice. By 2006, she had made the decision to move permanently to New Zealand.
Rachael’s creative journey spans from intricate ballpoint pen sketches to fluid watercolour washes. Over time, her tree and nature paintings have developed a unique character, pushing the boundaries of perception and dimension. She employs modelling paste and various tactile mediums to replicate the texture of bark, giving her work a palpable realism that invites closer inspection. Her inspiration is drawn from the colours and light within nature. Rachael aims to create an emotive experience, evoking feelings of peace, nostalgia, and calm in her viewers. Many clients find that her paintings remind them of treasured childhood memories or special places.
Rachael’s artistic process is straightforward: she hikes, photographs scenes of beauty, and then translates these images onto canvas. Rather than directly copying photographs, she allows each painting to evolve organically from an initial light point. Her artistic goals include capturing beauty, colour, joy, and tranquillity. She often works in series, with each piece exploring a similar theme but varying in expression, occasionally focusing intensely on a specific colour or light point.
With a global network of clients and collectors, Rachael divides her time between studios in New Zealand and Australia.
SALLY BULLING
New Zealand based painter Sally Bulling’s abstract works evoke an infinite energy.
Vibrant colours are mixed with sombre hues and rich golds, channelled onto the canvas with physical movements, sweeping marks, dripping flicks and elaborate pours. Each layer of the painting is thoughtfully superimposed over time, resulting in an intricate, pristine, and unified composition.
Using a mirror as a canvas, unique luminous light and depth is captured in her paintings and in addition, the reflection of the viewer’s own gaze and their surroundings. The veneers of poured glass preserve each layer of the painting as the overlapping images are embedded within each transparent glass pour. The edges of the painting are hand-gilded and project an aura of light onto the wall.
Bulling has long had an obsession with colour and its presence around us. Graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2002, her studies focused primarily on colourology and colour illusion.
She has had a successful career in the fashion and fine art industry, more recently redirecting her energy back to painting. Bulling is quickly catching the attention of private collectors in New Zealand and worldwide.
SAM FOLEY
Sam Foley is a contemporary New Zealand landscape painter. His often large, finely detailed paintings portray nature and urban landscapes, combining aspects of hyper-realism and photo-realism.
From Dunedin, New Zealand, Foley exhibits internationally, with works placed in a number of public and private collections. Over the last decade he has been a regular visitor to Europe, basing himself between Dunedin and Berlin, exhibiting throughout Europe and Scandinavia. In 2013 he was the recipient of the Kaipara Foundation Wallace Arts Trust Award which included a 4-month residency at the cultural centre Altes Spital in Solothurn, Switzerland.
”Most recently, moving images and how the two mediums of painting and digital projection can be combined into a singular medium has been a focus. Creating ‘moving image paintings’ which shift and change, using light and texture in a complex way, a simulacrum of a simulacrum that still retains the integrity of time and place. It moves with the incident and creates memory.
The urban landscape as a subject; the man-made and it’s encroachment into an environment. Line opposed to curve, the nature of chaos vs conformity, the myriad variations between absolute light and terminal dark are his constant fascinations. ” – Sam Foley
SIMON MAX BANNISTER
Simon Max Bannister was born and raised in South Africa. He moved to New Zealand after falling in love with the dramatic beauty of the land, its people and the spirit in which nature is revered and respected. Max Bannister practices a bronze casting technique that encapsulates his concerns of habitat and species loss into a distinctive language. He works mostly with wood and metal to convey environmental and mythological themes, creating ephemeral works that reflect nature’s precarious state.
Bannister’s smaller bronze sculptures are assembled from wood splinters, which are reminiscent of feathers, bone and sinew. Frequenting sawmills he collects splinters and shards of invasive timber. With these, he then constructs indigenous birds, nests, and wings. These wooden creations serve as the kindling for a unique lost cast technique, where the incineration of shape becomes the mould for the final sculpture. These hollow spaces are then cast with bronze, thereby immortalising the species that are so significant to him.
His large steel sculptures reflect a sense of time and place within the elements, as they are encouraged to naturally oxidize, giving the sculptures a warm patina rich in earthy ochres. The initial form is carefully moulded and assigned to a kiln to be incinerated. Once the original form is completely burnt away, he casts the bronze into that negative space, creating a now immortalised and unique replica of the original work. The sculptures begin to take life after he refines the concept down to a few essential sketch marks. These small marks become the backbone of the large armature onto which further character and details are added.
Born in 1980 in Bangkok, Thailand, Virut Panchabuse emerged as a prominent figure in the contemporary art scene with his innovative approach to portraiture. Armed with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the esteemed King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Virut embarked on a journey that would redefine the boundaries of traditional artistic expression.
Virut’s artistic signature lies in his abandonment of conventional oil brushes in favour of vibrant magazine cuttings. Through a meticulous collage technique, he breathes life into his subjects, creating striking pop-art portraits bursting with emotion. His creative process begins in the digital realm, where he scours through the avalanche of images inundating our daily lives. However, Virut’s quest transcends the pursuit of mere beauty or fame; he seeks the elusive essence of emotion. ”I believe this is what’s important in art – emotions,” he asserts. ”So I just look for images that evoke emotions.”
In Virut’s world, gender, age, and ethnicity are inconsequential. Each subject becomes a vessel for the raw authenticity of human emotion. As he meticulously assembles thousands of tiny magazine patches, layer by layer, he captures the essence of his subjects, immortalizing their unique spirit.
The result is a collection of larger-than-life collages that blur the line between reality and artistry. From a distance, his portraits exude a hyper realistic allure, drawing viewers into a world where emotions reign supreme. Yet, upon closer inspection, the original images dissolve into a kaleidoscope of paper layers, leaving only the lingering imprint of feeling. Virut’s artistic vision has garnered international acclaim, with his works adorning the walls of prestigious collections worldwide. From the galleries of Italian fashion icon Luciano Benetton to the private homes of discerning collectors in New Zealand, the US, and beyond, his art transcends borders and cultures.
VIRUT
MAX PATTÉ
British-born Max Patté is a multi-media contemporary artist who was previously based in Wellington, New Zealand and has recently moved to Spain. Since opening his studio in 2014, he has immersed himself in an exploration of the elemental nature of light, space and colour, producing an expansive body of work that includes the wildly popular LED-lit Lightworks, a series of abstracted figurative sculptures, and the beautifully designed Infinity Works.
Patté’s technical ability to work across multiple disciplines is due to a longstanding connection to the film industry. He cites advances in modern technologies as a constant source of inspiration, and he uses an impressive array in his day-to-day operations.
“For years, I was immersed in a world of technical brilliance, working alongside some of the world’s best in their respective fields. This gave me access to cuttingedge technologies, digital platforms and pioneering processes, and the latest in 3D scanning, printing and milling technologies. I was surrounded by this every day; it was a simple matter of osmosis.” – Max Patté
Patté studied at the Wimbledon School of Art in London (1997-2000) and was elected an Associate of the Royal Society of British Sculptors in 2008. His sculpture, Solace in the Wind, is an iconic and much-loved feature of the Wellington Waterfront. His larger-than-life cast iron horses, The Frolic and the Fancy, are part of Sir Michael Hill’s sculpture collection at the exclusive golf club, The Hills, in Arrowtown.
His art is also held in collections internationally, including the infamous art collection of The Groucho Club in London’s Soho, and patron of the arts Sir Ian McKellen’s private collection, among others.
ROBERT JAHNKE
Primarily a sculptor, Robert Jahnke is considered one of New Zealand’s leading contemporary Māori artists. Professor Jahnke, of Ngāi Taharora, Te Whānau a Iritekura, Te Whānau a Rakairoa o Ngāti Porou, is of Samoan-German-Irish-Māori heritage. His work is typically based on political issues that face Māori people, the relationship between Māori and European colonisers and the impact of Christianity on Māori culture. His practice questions and challenges established Eurocentric narration of New Zealand’s history and champions Māori perspectives, experiences and narratives.
The artist has long been drawn to the aesthetic and metaphorical qualities of light, (neon light in particular). He translates neon forms into diamonds, triangles & crosses. Using light, mirrors and reflections, the neon light forms beam brightly in Jahnke’s works, creating a distinctive glow and mirrored infinity, which is simply compelling. His cross form is the basic stitch in tukutuku weaving and the building block for patterns such as kaokao (each of which plays its own metaphorical role in te Ao Māori).
Jahnke was raised at Waipiro Bay, New Zealand. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts, and a Masters in Experimental Animation from California Institute of the Arts. Jahnke was awarded a Doctor of Māori Studies from Massey University. Jahnke helped establish Toioho ki Āpiti, the Māori Visual Arts programme and he became an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit for services to Māori art and education. Winner of a long list of prestigious art awards, Jahnke is a highly respected and widely collected artist, you will find his works exhibited in prominent public and private collections.
TIM CHRISTIE
Tim Christie is a New Zealand-based multidisciplinary digital artist. His initial body of work emerged from a series of explorations where he examined the intersection between two distinctly different domains. The fusion between angular geometric abstraction and softer, anatomical forms spawned an original and intriguing new aesthetic.
Over the past few years, Christie has deepened his interest in his art-making practices and extended the extremities of brightness and contrast to include lightboxes, large original weavings, paintings and prints. In particular, he has enjoyed playing with the space or ‘void’ between abstract and representational art employing mainly portraiture as the driver.
Contrast is an inherently important feature in his work. The mesmerising effect of black & white (or light) lines, creates a vibrational quality at close proximity and a surprising 3D effect at a distance. With his light art, Christie is also exploring colour animation, using shifting illuminated colour and the way it interacts with material colours and translucency to give pieces a pulsating lifeforce.
Christie has exhibited in a number of international destinations including Sydney, Hong Kong, Chester, Edinburgh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, London and Manchester where he won an award with the UK’s largest fine art group. He also featured in New Zealand and Australian design awards and his work has been published internationally. His previous work in design and advertising has seen him develop some of New Zealand’s most iconic brands including identities for The Interislander, Radio New Zealand, and New Zealand Wine and included redesigning the Invercargill brand.
WENDY HANNAH
Wendy Hannah is an Auckland based Sculptural Painter of Māori ’Ngati Awa’, ’Te Arawa’ and European descent. She is very intent on community engagement in her art practice that pursues ecological and political themes.
Hannah is known for her oeuvre of ’X’ forms which in one context authenticates she is a Woman and from the X generation. The ’X’ form was originally derived from the visual rendering of tukutuku, a traditional Māori craft used to bind and weave, which in Tikanga Māori represents the whānau (family) which she presents in its most abstract form as an ’X’. She believes it binds us to turangawaewae (place) and ideology.
The artist’s studio research developed at Elam, led her to experiment with resin, varnish, acrylic, and industrial additives to create large scale wall-mounted sculptures. Her bright and vibrant colour palette applied in overlapping triangular patterns on a three-dimensional platform, paired with a finish of high gloss liquid glass creates a great sense of luminosity and depth.
Her practise is founded on experimental methodology and she has a keen interest in the scientific properties of colour and more recently the effects of artificial and natural light. Still researching the properties of chroma and light and as a paean to colour, Hannah’s large scale ’X’ lightbox’s are in the medium of multi coloured juxtaposed perspex panels which reflect and refract in their environment, akin to Cubist faceting.
‘I use ’X’ as a signature to authenticate the idea that the thoughts and actions of women are to be treasured. Colour is the vehicle I use as an emotive language and in combination with light the illuminations reflect a heightened intensity much like looking into a kaleidoscope.’ – Wendy Hannah
Pauline Bianchi
Gallery Director
+64 21 499 477 director@artbay.co.nz
Rex Cook
Art Consultant
+64 27 517 6070 rex@artbay.co.nz
Penny Mullins
Art Consultant
+64 21 070 7059 penelope@artbay.co.nz
Ella Todd
Designer & Administrator
+64 22 566 3898 ella@artbay.co.nz
CONTACT
ARTBAY GALLERY
13 Marine Parade
Queenstown, 9300
New Zealand
+64 3 442 9090
info@artbay.co.nz
Opening Hours 11am-5pm Daily
VIRUT FLAGSHIP GALLERY
Shop 4, 9-11 Marine Parade
Queenstown, 9300
New Zealand
+64 3 442 9090
info@artbay.co.nz
Opening Hours 11am-5pm Daily
LIGHTWORX GALLERY
Eichardts Building, Level 1
Marine Parade, Queenstown, 9300
New Zealand
+64 3 409 0825
info@lightworxgallery.co.nz
Opening Hours 11am-5pm Daily
