Bill Hammond
St Bernard coming up the hall
Ink on paper
420 x 520mm
Signed, 1976
Provenance: Private Collection, Rakaia
Bill Hammond
Let's get back in the bloody garden
Mixed media on paper
430 x 500mm
Signed, 1977
Provenance: Private Collection, Rakaia
Bill Hammond is one of New Zealand's most influential contemporary artists. Born in Christchurch in 1947, Hammond attended the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, while working in a sign factory, making jewellery, and designing, and manufacturing wooden toys. It was not until 1981 that he returned to full time painting.
His enigmatic bird studies began to feature in his work in 1989, after a three week trip to the Auckland islands, where Hammond felt affected by the harsh climate, and the resulting lack of human impact on the area. He was quoted as saying "The Auckland islands are like New Zealand before people got here. It's bird land."