REUBEN PATERSON

Early Years and Background

Of Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāi Tūhoe, Tūhourangi, and Scottish descent, Paterson was born in Auckland in 1973. He studied at the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1997. His early experiences of drawing and patternmaking, influenced by both Māori decorative arts and his father’s backgrounds in fashion textiles, remain central to his practice today. Paterson lives and works between Auckland and New York City.

Reuben Paterson Artworks

Reuben Paterson’s practice explores the interplay between light, genealogy, and metaphysics. Using glitter as his signature medium, his works recall both celestial and natural worlds, reimagining traditional kōwhaiwhai patterns and Māori mythologies through vibrant, reflective surfaces. His aesthetic unites Māori spirituality, queer experience, and environmental consciousness in dazzling visual form.

Key Artworks and Developments

Among Paterson’s most celebrated public works is Guide Kaiārahi (2021), a 10-metre-high crystalline waka suspended outside the forecourt of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Commissioned by the Edmiston Trust, the sculpture symbolically ‘guides’ viewers across realms of light and reflection, drawing inspiration from the guiding star Rehua. The same year, he presented I’m an Open Window at Sydney‘s Museum of Contemporary Art as part of the Biennale of Sydney. This striking installation featured large, glittering panels arranged to evoke both physical and metaphysical windows, using reflective surfaces and vibrant patterns inspired by kōwhaiwhai (Māori rafter designs) and celestial navigation. The work invited audiences to contemplate thresholds between different worlds, spirituality, and identity, and drew upon Paterson’s signature material—glitter—to transform the gallery space into a constellation of light and colour that celebrated Māori cosmology and queer experience.

In 2025, Paterson’s practice reached new international dimensions with his participation in INCARNA at High Noon Gallery in New York. His featured work, Hotu-Puku, The Devourer of Travellers (Constellation Draco), reinterprets mythic taniwha lore within a queer and cosmological framework, fusing Māori narrative with urban, glittering futurism.

Select Public Commissions

• Guide Kaiārahi (2021), Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki — commissioned by the Edmiston Trust
• Whānau Marama (The Family of Light), Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
• The Golden Bearing (2014), New Plymouth Coastal Walkway

Select Reuben Paterson Awards and Accolades

• Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate, Toi Kō Iriiri Queer Arts Award (2025)
• Wallace Arts Trust Development Award (2005)
• Moët et Chandon Fellowship, Avize, France (2001)

Select Reuben Paterson Exhibitions

• INCARNA, High Noon Gallery, New York (2025)
• Biennale of Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia (2022)
• The Only Dream Left, City Gallery Wellington | Te Whare Toi, Wellington (2023). The largest exhibition of Paterson’s career to date, this major survey spanned 25 years of practice. Curated by Aaron Lister and Karl Chitham, it showcased work across painting, sculpture, and installation, exploring light, spirituality, and whakapapa through glittering optical landscapes
• The End, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Christchurch (2022). A large-scale installation series focusing on transformation and spiritual continuity, continuing Paterson’s investigation into Māori cosmology and celestial form.
• The Guide Kaiārahi, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland (2021)
• The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery & Gallery of Modern Art (2015)
• The Golden Bearing, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth (2014)
• Whakapapa: Get Down Upon Your Knees, Waikato Museum, Hamilton (2011)

Reuben Paterson FAQs

Ocula | 2025