MICHAEL HIGHT
b. 1961, lives Auckland
Michael Hight is a painter, sculptor and assembler, working with paint, canvas, tin, wood and found objects. He is most well-known for his observations of the ubiquitous beehive and their individual locales. These works contain all the particularities of location – geography, vegetation, weather. More than that they convey the idiosyncratic qualities of ownership and use and allude to a wider consideration of “place”.
His works “gain their intensity from attention to the minutest detail.” The beehives stand in contrast to the surrounds, providing the “elegiac lyricism” of juxtaposition. "His virtuoso skills of representation of the highest order and achieves heights of mood” and the undeniable specifics of place “that go beyond just representation.” (1)
“Generally, Hight’s beehive paintings have run parallel to other work – his interest in rivers as a starting point for abstraction, in repeating patterns and his preoccupation with found objects and four main materials: ash-charcoal, canvas, wood and resin…. Most of his work has a landscape motivation as a driving force and in the past he has used found materials from a particular place fused into an abstract representation of that place. The abstract works fulfil all his needs as a painter and the representational works are simply about being more frank with respect to source, or inspiration of the abstract pieces.” (2)
“The idea of transformation is embodied in what happens inside a beehive and as far as I am concerned, transformation is the key element in 20th Century art. Artists like Duchamp and Warhol have taken something that is not art and turned it into art, so in a way, these are pictures of art as well as rural spots…”(3)
Born in Stratford, New Zealand, in 1961, Hight completed a Bachelor of Social Sciences at the University of Waikato in 1982. Between 1984-87 Hight travelled and spent time living and painting in London. Returning to live in Auckland, he has regularly exhibited since 1984 and has been a full time artist since 2001. He has received several QEII grants and his work is held in many New Zealand collections including Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, The Chartwell Collection and The James Wallace Trust.
1.TJMcNamara,'SenseofBeautyinDecay', Weekend Herald, August21,2010. 2.AdrienneRewi,‘Phantombeekeeperstillbuzzingoverboxes’, Sunday Star Times, 7November,1999. 3.MichaelHightinRewi,ibid.
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EDUCATION
MICHAEL HIGHT
b. 1961, lives in Auckland
1980 - 82 University of Waikato (B.Soc.Sc)
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2015 New Paintings, milford galleries queenstown
The Miniature Garden, Page Blackie Gallery
2014 New Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2013
Crossing the Line, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Recent Work, milford galleries queenstown
Forty-nine Rivers, Page Blackie Gallery, Wellington
2012 Dreams of Children, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Recent Work, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2011 Reliquary, Page Blackie Gallery, Wellington
2010
Recent Paintings, Page Blackie Gallery, Wellington
Wakatipu, milford galleries queenstown
From Waimarino to Red Jacks, John Leech Gallery, Auckland
2009 The Road to Erewhon, Milford Galleries Dunedin
Paintings, Judith Anderson Gallery, Napier
2008 Paintings, John Leech Gallery, Auckland
Notes from the Waikato, Janne Land, Wellington
2007 Recent Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2006 Manuherikia, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
Recent Work, John Leech Gallery, Auckland
Taieri, Milford Galleries Dunedin
Recent Works, milford galleries queenstown
Manuherikia, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
2005 Manawatu, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
2004 Wandering Eye, Milford Galleries Dunedin
Recent Abstract Works, milford galleries queenstown
Land of Milk and Honey, John Leech Gallery, Auckland
2003 Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
2002 Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Duologue, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2001 Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
2000 Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
Recent Work, Milford Galleries Dunedin
1999 Recent Work, Judith Anderson Gallery, Hawkes Bay
Jonathon Jensen Gallery, Christchurch
Recent Work, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
Recent Work, Campbell Grant Gallery, Christchurch
1998 Recent Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin
Maungakaramea, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Gazetteer, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
1997 Campbell Grant Gallery, Christchurch
1996 Current Abstraction, Milford Galleries Dunedin
City Gallery Wellington, Wellington
Campbell Grant Gallery, Christchurch
Four Strong Winds, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Four Strong Winds, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
1995 In Trust, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Govett Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth
Seven Rivers, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
1992 Heartland Trinkets, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1991 Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1990 Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
33 1/3 Gallery, Wellington
1989 Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
33 1/3 Gallery, Wellington
1988 Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Jonathan Jensen Gallery, Christchurch
3/3 Gallery, Wellington
1987
1986
Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
33 1/3 Gallery, Wellington
Falcon Gallery, London
The Foyer Gallery, Hampstead, London
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2014 Hight / Orjis / Waldrom, milford galleries queenstown
Significant Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin
New Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2013 The Review, milford galleries queenstown
2012 Significant Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin
Hight / Frazer / Hunt, milford galleries queenstown
New Year, New Works, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
2011 Parallel, Milford Galleries Dunedin
Gems, milford galleries queenstown
2010 Small Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin
Frieze, Gow Langford Gallery, Auckland
2009 Southern Landscape, milford galleries queenstown
2008 Masterworks, milford galleries queenstown
Drawings, John Leech Gallery, Auckland
Taranaki Gate, Percy Thompson Gallery, Stratford
2007 Te Turinga: Turning Point, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington
2006 Location South, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2005 The Southern Landscape, Milford Galleries Dunedin
Landscape Show, Lopdell House, Waitakere
The North Western Line, Corban Estate Art Centre, Auckland
2004 Recent Landscapes, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2001 Wild Season, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington
1999 Crossed Out, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1998 Recent Acquisitions: Chartwell Collection Auckland Art Gallery
1997 City Gallery Wellington, Wellington
The Northern Line, Corban Estate Art Centre
Abstraction & Still Life, Milford Galleries Dunedin
1996 Is as Landscape as Metaphor, Milford Galleries Dunedin
1995 Found Objects, Outreach, Auckland
1993 Gift of The Artist, Artspace, Auckland
1992 Pacific Traces, 33 1/3 Gallery, Wellington
1991 Big Pictures Show, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
Outcrop, Govett Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth
AWARDS
2000 Finalist Visa and Wallace Art Awards, James Wallace Arts Foundation
1999 Visa & Wallace Art Awards, James Wallace Arts Foundation, Auckland
1997 Finalist Visa Gold Award, Auckland City Gallery & City Gallery, Wellington
1989 QE11 Art Council Creative Projects Scheme
1989 QE11 Arts Council Grant
1988 QE11 Arts Council Direct Support Grant
COLLECTIONS
ABN AMRO Collection
Pukeiti Collection, New Plymouth
Fletcher Trust Collection
Colenso, Wellington
Chartwell Collection
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Sky City Grand Hotel Collection
Coopers & Lybrand Collection
James Wallace Trust
Private Collections in Germany, UK, Australia and U.S.A
SELECTED ARTICLES
2004 Knox, Elizabeth, Wandering Eye, catalogue, Milford Galleries Dunedin
2004 O’Brien, Gregory, Land of Milk and Honey, catalogue, John Leech Gallerym Auckland
2002 Green, Paula, Omarama, Place of Light, catalogue, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1999 Caughey, Elizabeth & John Gow, Contemporary New Zealand Art 2, David Bateman Ltd, Auckland, p66
1996 Green, Paula, Four Strong Winds, catalogue, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
1995/96 Green, Paula, Walking in the World, Michael Hight’s Trust in Place, Art New Zealand No.77, Summer, p77-79
1995 Brown, Warwick, 100 New Zealand Paintings by 100 New Zealand Artists, Godwit Publishing, Auckland, p36
1994 Mannion, Robert, ‘Painting a Bright Future’, The Dominion, Saturday October 22
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