Luke Hollis was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1979. He is a self taught artist who has been painting professionally since 2004. In this short time Luke has received notable acclaim from art critics and the art community alike. Viewed as one of New Zealand's leading young emerging artists he was awarded runner up in the Molly Morpeth Canaday art awards in 2004, followed by first equal in the same awards in 2005. Additionally in 2005 he was honoured as the winner of the Peoples Choice Award.
Having commenced his painting career in the Bay of Plenty Luke started out exhibiting in group showings. These were followed by his first sold out joint exhibition 'Expressions' (held in Whakatane in May 2005). 'Expressions' was followed by a successful solo exhibition entitled 'Grace' in Tauranga, December 2006.
Luke has a passion for capturing the real and fantasy alike, his pieces mix contemporary with the traditional whilst attaining realism through loose and painterly brushwork, he is an artist who continually develops his work through experimentation. Lukes' influences are both past and contemporary artists such as Nicolai Fechin, John Singer Sargent, Thomas Whilmer Dewing and many more, as well as contemporary artists such as Richard Schmidt, Zhaoming Wu, Morgan Weistling and Ron Hicks to name a few.
In addition to his oil works Luke also exhibits his sketch work. One of his primary passions is conceptual art with most of his free time being spent experimenting with his often bizarre figurative pencil works. His line work has received high acclamation by fellow contemporary artists and is a strong foundation for his detailed oil pieces. Luke has recently held two life drawing workshops and intends to hold more in the future; with a vision to branch out into painting classes in due course. He is currently teaching drawing at AUT university n Auckland and his works are held in private collections both nationally and internationally.

Click here to see Luke's last exhibition June 23 2018