Chris Heaphy

Chris Heaphy is a New Zealand artist who is based in Auckland. His work explores cultural issues with a greater focus on the relationship between Maori and Pakeha due to the artist's background.

Chris Heaphy was born in 1965 and is of Ngāi Tahu and European descent. He graduated from the Ilam school of Fine Arts in Canterbury, New Zealand in 1991 where he studied towards a BFA. In 1998, Heaphy completed a MFA in painting at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.

Over the years, Heaphy was granted several awards and fellowships, including: the Te Waka Toi Grant (1993), the Olivia Spencer Bower Residency (1995), the Research Grant Residency, the RMIT University (1998), the Creative New Zealand Grant (1999), and the Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin Residency, Champagne, France (2000–2001).

Although Chris Heaphy remains concerned with cultural heritage and history, his style has changed over time. Whereas his earlier compositions are subdued in tones, his later work confronts the viewer to vibrant colours. Heaphy's compositions are complex. He introduces an array of motifs drawn from Maori and European iconography demonstrating his interest in cross-cultural exchanges as well as referring to his personal history.

His installation After the Big Bang (2003) formed the bridge between Heaphy's previous body of works and his more recent works included in his first solo exhibition Sea of Tranquility at Gow Langsford Gallery that demonstrated Heaphy's new collage-style of paintings which he had started exploring back in 2003. Heaphy stated that his work After the Big Bang: "... developed like an inventory of the symbols [he] had used earlier, and it was a continuation of the earlier wall paintings, however it was more about drawing with shadows. The new paintings are a continuation of those ideas."

Heaphy is interested in the "inevitable change or slippage of meaning of the symbol." According to Heaphy, these symbols represent his identity.

Heaphy's bicultural heritage continues to inform his work as seen with his recent exhibition Maukatere at Gow Langsford Gallery. The works in this exhibition presents the viewer with a mixture of Maori and Pakeha symbols brought together in colourful compositions.

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