Mark Colin Braunias (20 August 1955 – 17 December 2024) was a New Zealand semi-abstract painter who experimented with quilt making and glass blowing. He won the $25,000 Parkin Drawing Prize (2021) and two

Wallace Art awards The Wallace Art Awards was an annual visual arts award ceremony in New Zealand, established in 1992 and running until 2021. Their goal was to "support, promote and expose contemporary New Zealand art and artists". History The awards were estab ...

, and his work is held in important national art collections including

Te Papa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa (Māori language, Māori for 'Waka huia, the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the Nation ...

Museum,

Christchurch Art Gallery The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, commonly known as the Christchurch Art Gallery, is the public art gallery of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It has its own substantial art collection and also presents a programme of New ...

Dunedin Public Art Gallery The Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds the main public art collection of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located in The Octagon in the heart of the city, it is close to the city's public library, Dunedin Town Hall, and other facilities such as ...

and the Sarjeant Art Gallery. Braunias lived and worked in the coastal town of

Kawhia Kawhia Harbour () is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour, Ruapuke and Aotea Harbour, 40 kilometres southwest of Hamilton, Ne ...

, and the city of

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

. His younger brother is the writer

Steve Braunias Steven Carl Braunias (born 20 June 1960) is a New Zealand author, columnist, journalist and editor. He is the author of 14 books. Early life and family Braunias was born in New Zealand to an Austrian immigrant father and a New Zealand-born mother ...

Personal life

Braunias was born in

Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...

on 20 August 1955, one of four sons to Johann Braunias, an Austrian-born house painter. He attended

Mount Maunganui College Mount Maunganui College is a state coeducational secondary school and is located in Tauranga, New Zealand. It was established in 1958, the same year that Tauranga College was split into Tauranga Boys' College and Tauranga Girls' College. There i ...

, and later worked at the Waterfront Industry Commission offices at

Mount Maunganui Mount Maunganui (, ) is a major residential, commercial and industrial suburb of Tauranga located on a peninsula to the north-east of Tauranga's city centre. It was an independent town from Tauranga until the completion of the Tauranga Harb ...

wharf. After extensive travel, he returned to New Zealand to attend the Ilam School of Art in Christchurch. He graduated with a BFA from the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

, Ilam School of Fine Arts, in 1988, the year of his first solo exhibition. As a child Braunias was inspired by ''Mad'' magazine artists, in particular the legendary Bill Elder. His father Johann was also a painter. His brother Steve described his father’s work as "conservatively painted landscapes."

Illness and death

Braunias and three of his brothers suffered from

atrial fibrillation Atrial fibrillation (AF, AFib or A-fib) is an Heart arrhythmia, abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) characterized by fibrillation, rapid and irregular beating of the Atrium (heart), atrial chambers of the heart. It often begins as short periods ...

, a condition causing an unsteady heartbeat. The combination of high blood pressure and the blood-thinning agents, which he needed for his condition, led to a high potential risk of a

cerebral haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as hemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain (i.e. the parenchyma), into its ventricles, or into both. An ICH is a type of bleeding within the skull and one kind of stro ...

. Braunias died from a cerebral haemorrhage at

Waikato Hospital Waikato Hospital is a major regional hospital in Hamilton, New Zealand. It provides specialised and emergency healthcareWaik ...

on 17 December 2024, at the age of 69.

Career

Braunias lived and worked in a former

Bank of New Zealand Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is one of New Zealand's Big Four (banking)#New Zealand, big four banks. It has been operating since October 1861, and since 1992 has been owned by National Australia Bank (NAB), retaining local governance with a New Z ...

building in

, which he bought in 1996. He used the bank vault as his storeroom for canvases. He was a prolific artist who exhibited frequently for more than three decades. He showed at the

Peter McLeavey Gallery Peter Joseph John McLeavey (21 September 1936 – 12 November 2015) was a New Zealand art dealer and advocate based in Wellington. Early life Born in Raetihi on 21 September 1936, McLeavey was the son of Leslie Francis McLeavey and Elizabeth T ...

13 times and the Jonathan Smart Gallery ten times. He also exhibited at Anna Miles Gallery, Dunedin School of Art, Bath Street Gallery, Brett McDowell Gallery, Ilam Campus Gallery, Gregory Flint Gallery,

City Gallery Wellington City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi is a public art gallery in Wellington, New Zealand. History City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi began its life as the Wellington City Art Gallery on 23 September 1980 in a former office block located at 65 ...

Robert McDougall Art Gallery The Robert McDougall Art Gallery is a heritage building in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was designed by Edward Armstrong and it opened in 1932. It is a Category I heritage building listed with Heritage New Zealand and is located within the Chr ...

, the

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

Southland Museum and Art Gallery The Southland Museum and Art Gallery Niho o te Taniwha is located in Gala Street, Invercargill, New Zealand. It is Southland's largest cultural and heritage institution, and contains a wide variety of the region's art, history and natural hist ...

, Tauranga Art Gallery, the

Sarjeant Gallery The Sarjeant Gallery at Pukenamu, Queen's Park Whanganui is a regional art museum with a collection of international and New Zealand art. It was closed for 10 years for redevelopment and re-opened on Saturday 9 November 2024. In 2024 it was anno ...

, and the

, among others. His last exhibition was at the Ann Packer Gallery in

Whanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganui is ...

, in November 2024. Jonathan Smart, owner of the Jonathan Smart Gallery in Christchurch, said Braunias made paintings "that lean towards abstraction that are also deeply human." Braunias also worked as an art tutor at Unitec in Auckland between 1993 and 2013.

Awards

*1992: Paramount Award, the Wallace Art Awards *2010: Fulbright-Wallace Arts Trust Award *2021: Parkin Drawing Prize

Art residencies

*2002: Dunedin Public Art Gallery *2005:

William Hodges Fellowship The William Hodges Fellowship residency programme is the successor to the Southland Art Foundation Artist in Residence. The origins of the William Hodges Fellowship date back to 1980 with the establishment of the Southland Savings Bank Art Foundati ...

, Invercargill *2007: Tylee Cottage, Whanganui *2011: Fulbright/Wallace scholarship for a residency at the

Headlands Center for the Arts Headlands Center for the Arts hosts an internationally recognized artist-in-residence program, and interdisciplinary public programs. It is situated in a campus of artist-renovated military buildings in the Marin Headlands, in Marin County, Cali ...

, San Francisco. *2019: Dunedin School of Art

Collections

The work of Mark Braunias is held in public gallery and private collections including Te Papa Tongarewa National Museum of New Zealand, Christchurch Art Gallery, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, The Sarjeant Art Gallery, Tauranga Art Gallery, Invercargill Art Gallery and Museum, Ashburton Art Gallery, University of Auckland, University of Canterbury, Massey University, Lincoln University, The Fletcher Trust Collection, Art House Trust Collection and the State Library of Queensland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braunias, Mark 1955 births 2024 deaths People from Tauranga People from Hamilton, New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand painters 21st-century New Zealand painters Ilam School of Fine Arts alumni