Andrew Bond

 

Ōtautahi-based artist Andrew Bond centres his artistic practice around the shared human faculty of imagination or, simply put, the childlike impulse to ‘pretend’. He believes that creativity in adulthood is essentially an extension of this fundamental human need. For Andrew, this manifests through paintings filled with recognisable figures and objects inhabiting self-contained worlds. These worlds bear little resemblance to rational or real-world contexts, yet they convey a compelling narrative presence.

‘Most of us recall the past as fragmented moments, hard visual or audible information that we flesh out with imagined scenarios that validate our personal agendas. The Law Courts understand this very well, and treat eye witness testimony with caution. This being said, my aim for this group of paintings is to take the concocted filler, and replace it with visual imagery that goes out of its way to disrupt any logical narrative that we might attach to our core memory. The result being a manifestation of ‘the other’. Something that was but wasn’t, a no-man’s land of half truths and outright lies.’ – Andrew Bond

Influenced by music, stories, poetry, history, and generously seasoned with the absurdist philosophy of Albert Camus, Andrew meticulously layers detailed figurative forms over loose grounds. These backgrounds are vividly saturated with a mixture of thin washes and thickly applied gesture giving a tactile quality to the work. Each painting reveals its own internal truths, free from the constraints of physics or the natural laws of the material world.

After receiving his BFA (1st Class Honours, 2021) and MFA (with Distinction, 2022) from Canterbury University, Andrew has dedicated himself to his artistic practice.

Exhibitions:
2025 – Horseplay in a Time Before Ege Bamyasi
2024 – A Playlist for Nipper
2023 – The Golden Bough