Your occupation, job title, artistic discipline (or very brief description of what you do):

I’m an artist and designer. I paint on canvas for exhibitions and sometimes get to do murals and public works too. On the design side, I work as a contractor for design studios in New York City. I work on branding projects within the entertainment and TV industry.

What cities/towns have you lived in (or spent more than a few months in) beginning with the place of your birth?

I was born and grew up in Matamata. I lived in Wellington while I studied graphic design (2000 – 2003), then I moved to Melbourne (2003 – 2007), then I moved to New York City (2007 – 2017), and then I moved back to NZ.

What are the earliest stories you remember hearing? The ones that told you about the world?

I remember hearing stories of my fathers’ travels around the world when he was young. I think television probably taught me more about the world when I was a kid.

What’s your favourite Bay of Plenty landscape, park, building, location, suburb, or side street? Why?

Te Puna Quarry Park. I love the cacti and succulent garden. I love the surreal beauty of these desert plants.

What’s an average day in your life at present?

I wake up at 5 a.m., have coffee. Then I meditate and go for a run or work out. I have breakfast with Ali (my partner) and get ready for the day. If I have a design job, I normally have a zoom call at 8 a.m. with my team in NYC to check in or critique the latest work. If I’m working towards an exhibition I normally start off doing admin stuff (emails, accounting,etc.) before moving into my studio around 9 a.m. to start painting. I usually paint until about 4 p.m.

What music was present and still memorable from your youth/adolescence?

Lots of stuff! When I was a little kid I loved Madonna (and still do!) and when I was a teenager I was really into lots of alternative music. Most of all I loved Sonic Youth, and still do. I still listen to a lot of music from the 90s. The music from your teenage years really stays with you your whole life. For me, music was everything when I was a kid in Matamata. It was a way to escape.

For you as a creative person, who are three influential artists or thinkers?

When I was in high school, I learned about Andy Warhol and the pop art movement of the 60s. Then I discovered Keith Haring and the whole 80s downtown NYC art scene history. Then you link all kinds of people like Bette Midler and Halston and Madonna. Unearthing all these people as a teen and the fact it all happened in one place (New York) had a profound impact on my life. It represented the weird, the glamorous, the creative, queer, avant-garde, cool and crazy. Freedom from judgement. I knew I had to get there.

Looking back at your teen-age self: what one sentence describes that person?

A creative and shy kid, stuck in the closet but getting closer to the light every day.

If you had to eat the same meal every day, what would it be?

Tuna salad. I kinda do already.

What are you planning for 2022/2023 that nobody knows about yet?

Some new shows: one here in Tauranga organised with Sonya Korohina (Supercut Projects) featuring myself, Lynette Fisher, John Roy and Jacquelyn Greenbank. The show is called ‘Home & Garden’ and will be at Sonya’s house in Otumoetai from 2 to 6 November.

The other show is in Auckland at the Wynyard Quarter, through the online platform Artfull that I have recently signed with. That one is in October.

What was your first real job, second, third?

My first job was in Melbourne at a publishing and advertising company. I was the art director. My second job was as a designer at a new design studio in NYC called Favorite Color. I got laid off from that job during the 2008 recession and haven’t had a proper job since then!

Where would you like to live, but have yet to?

Italy. There is a design movement from the 80s called Memphis Milano that came out of Milan, Italy, and I love the aesthetic. It seems to me that Italians have a stylish outlook on all things aesthetic and a love of more outrageous visuals. This strikes a chord with me.

What word of advice would you offer an aspiring creative person?

You already possess everything within you – it’s just a matter of uncovering your truth. Also, every single thing you do amounts to something. When you’re young it seems as if nothing is happening. But you get ten or twenty years on and you see that you have this big visual history in your wake.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself/your organisation?

I do commissions! Please reach out if you would like an original artwork.

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