Bio
Hamish McWhannell is a fine artist from Auckland, New Zealand. He is known for his modern art oil paintings on canvas based on moments captured in old photographs, particularly black-and-white photographs that he paints in colour.
I try to breathe life and the moment into what are otherwise static records of a time and a place… I can’t reproduce with photographic accuracy, which is not my aim, but I can use colour to increase the depth of the image, creating something that the photo cannot be.
Hamish used to spend hours sitting on the floor of the Auckland Public Library photographic section, deliberating long and hard about which photos he would paint. He is especially drawn to Magnum photographers like Robert Doisneau and Cartier-Bresson. His style comes across as almost illustrative, while retaining the memory of the photograph, with a surrealist edge.
Hamish began his art career as a jeweller, receiving instruction in 1986 at the Daniel Clasby Workshop where he worked for two years before establishing his own workshop. He sold jewellery and small sculptures at The Fingers Contemporary Jewellery Gallery, and was involved with a group of young jewellers called Jewellery Unlimited which ran for several years until it dissolved. In 1986, he became involved with The Medallion Group and exhibited in three of the early shows. This group later renamed to become The Medallion Association of New Zealand, or MANZ, and has continued to show Hamish’s work.
Hamish began painting in 1991 and has appeared in a number of exhibitions. Alongside Art by the Sea and MANZ, Hamish has exhibited his contemporary oil painting at The Cliff McPherson Gallery, Orexart, and Artis Gallery in Auckland.