Paul Hartigan

Auckland based contemporary artist Paul Hartigan is widely recognised for his large scale public light commissions. His dramatic monochrome neon Colony transformed the University of Auckland’s Engineering Building and won the Metro Award for Best Public Sculpture in 2006. While working predominantly in neon he also produces paintings, photographs and fine art prints from his Grey Lynn studio. His artistic lineage can be traced back to the forerunners of the Pop Art movement of the 1960s. Hartigan’s quirky, often humorous works regularly present astute social and political perceptions. His progressive and subversive attitude can be traced back to his early days as an art student in the 1970s, an approach he still displays with wit and assurance. Paul Hartigan is represented in major collections throughout New Zealand and Australia. Paul Hartigan’s Power Flowers prints are created from Polaroid images he made in the Auckland Domain during late 1980s. These unique analogue images are non-manipulated by Photoshop. The multiple-exposures were created within-camera directly onto the Polaroid film.