Paul Hooker has enjoyed a career as an exhibiting painter, professional illustrator and tertiary lecturer in Auckland for more than forty years. He is particularly well known as a portrait painter who has completed many private and public commissions most notably portraits of all of the Americas Cup skippers in 2000 as well as a series of three portraits for Kings College in Auckland, two of the chairman of their board and one of the Dean. He has been a finalist in the Adam portraiture awards no fewer than six times.
Aside from portraiture Paul’s oeuvre includes highly accomplished paintings of the figure – a direct extension of his dedication as a lecturer in life drawing and figurative studies at a number of tertiary institutions in Auckland. More recently he has completed intimate renditions of still life painting exploiting the depiction of contrasting qualities of surface and reflection. In addition, he has been exploring an interest in landscape, in particular the extended vistas and rolling hills of the North Island which he depicts with a finely tuned sense of light and atmosphere.
Over the years Paul has garnered a number of awards in various local and national art competitions.
Apart from his work as a commercial illustrator, including the design and illustration of the 2004 NZ Post Christmas stamps, he was a sought after teacher of general painting and life drawing, fashion, costume and general illustration. Now retired from teaching he is painting full time. His latest work is the Cirque series, returning to the figure, set in an abstract to give relevance to the feeling and atmosphere of the figure’s story.