Peter Robinson (born 1966 in Ashburton) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

artist of

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

( Kāi Tahu) descent. He is an associate professor at the

Elam School of Fine Arts The Elam School of Fine Arts, founded by John Edward Elam, is part of the University of Auckland Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries, Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries at the University of Auckland. It offered the first Bachelor of ...

at the

University of Auckland The University of Auckland (; Māori: ''Waipapa Taumata Rau'') is a public research university based in Auckland, New Zealand. The institution was established in 1883 as a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. Initially loc ...

Biography

Robinson studied sculpture at the

Ilam School of Fine Arts The Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, located in the Ilam suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, was founded in 1882 as the Canterbury College School of Art. The school became a full department of the university in the ...

at 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 ...

between 1985 and 1989.

Exhibitions

Robinson quickly established an exhibiting career after graduating from art school, and was included in a number of international exhibitions including the

Asia Pacific Triennial The Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) is an art museum located within the Queensland Cultural Centre in the South Bank precinct of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. Opened on 2 December 2006, the GOMA is Australia's l ...

and the

São Paulo Art Biennial The São Paulo Art Biennial ( Portuguese: ''Bienal de São Paulo'') was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennale (in existence since 1895), which serves as ...

(1996), the

Biennale of Sydney The Biennale of Sydney is an international festival of contemporary art, held every two years in Sydney, Australia. It is a large and well-attended contemporary visual arts event in the country. Alongside the Venice and São Paulo biennales and ...

(1998), the Lyon Biennale (2000), and the Baltic Triennale (2002). RobinsonPeter Exhib

In 2001 Robinson and Jacqueline Fraser were New Zealand's co-representatives at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

, the first time New Zealand participated with a national pavilion at the event. Robinson's biennale work, ''Divine Comedy'', was originally developed while he was artist in residence at the

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is a contemporary art museum at New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in ...

New Plymouth New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in Devon, from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. The New Pl ...

. In 2006 Robinson first exhibits his Walters Prize winning installation ''Ack'' at Auckland's Artspace. In 2012 Robinson was selected for the

, where he filled a massive warehouse space on

Cockatoo Island Cockatoo Island Wareamah is a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the confluence of the Parramatta River and Lane Cove River in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. Cockatoo Island is the largest of several harbour islands that were once ...

with a huge installation titled ''Gravitas Lite'', crafted from carved polystyrene. Other exhibitions include: * ''Polymer Monoliths'' IMA, Brisbane 2011 '' '' *''Tribe Subtribe'', The Dowse Art Museum, 2013 *''Peter Robinson: Cuts and Junctures'',

Adam Art Gallery The Adam Art Gallery (in Māori language, Māori: ''Te Pātaka Toi'') is a purpose-built arts gallery located in the Kelburn Campus of Victoria University of Wellington in Wellington, New Zealand. History On 15 July 1997, Jenny Harper and Tin ...

, 2013 *''If You Were to Work Here (The Mood in the Museum)'', The fifth Auckland Triennial,

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 ...

and

Auckland War Memorial Museum The Auckland War Memorial Museum (), also known as Auckland Museum, is one of New Zealand's most important museums and war memorials. Its neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building constructed in the 1920s and 1950s, stands on Observatory ...

*''Syntax'',

Artspace NZ Artspace Aotearoa (previously known as Artspace NZ) is an art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on Karangahape Road in Newton. The gallery was founded in 1987, and focuses on contemporary New Zealand and overseas art. It should n ...

, Auckland, 2015 *''Syntax'', Jakarta Biennale, 2015 *''Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art'',

, Auckland, 2020 *''9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art'', Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia 2019

Selected works

''Untitled (plane, car, blanket)''
1994
''Boy Am I Scared Eh!''
1997
''Inflation Theory 1''
2001
I Am I, I Am Not I
2001
''Promethean Dreams''
2007
''Defunct Mnemonics''
2012

Awards

In 2008 Robinson was awarded the

Walters Prize The Walters Prize is New Zealand's largest contemporary art prize. Held biennially since 2002, the prize aims to 'make contemporary art a more widely recognised and debated feature of cultural life'. The prize is named in honour of New Zealand ab ...

. In 2016 he was recognised with a Laureate award by the

Arts Foundation of New Zealand The Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi is a New Zealand arts organisation that supports artistic excellence and facilitates private philanthropy through raising funds for the arts and allocating it to New Zealand artists. The foundatio ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Peter 1966 births Living people 20th-century New Zealand sculptors 21st-century New Zealand sculptors 21st-century New Zealand male artists 20th-century New Zealand painters 20th-century New Zealand male artists 21st-century New Zealand painters University of Canterbury alumni Ngāi Tahu people New Zealand Māori academics