PROFILE
Sheyne received a Bachelor of Visual Arts from AUT in 1995 and his Masters of Fine Arts (honours) in 2000 from The University of Auckland. Since graduating, Sheyne has received a number of awards, residencies and commissions. His works are held in many public collections in Christchurch, Auckland, Washington DC, Michigan and Bethlehem. Sheyne also notably founded and directed LeSa Gallery in Petone from 2007 and 2012, an important dealer gallery for Pacific artists. Based in Wellington, Sheyne is a multi-media visual artist whose primary mediums are painting, animation and printmaking.
Perhaps best known for the dynamic style of his prints and woodcuts, Sheyne describes himself as a paper architect who uses his work to create and represent his own cultural context and sense of belonging. His prints and paintings often envisage Polynesia as a futuristic urban utopia. In these re-imaginings, the Samoan fale acts as the symbolic archetype for skyscrapers and apartment housing while the vaka stands in for rocket ships. These works reflect Sheyne’s research into his Samoan heritage and symbolism, his travel wanderlust and his taste for big overseas cities. They also reveal ongoing influences, such as the world of fantasy, comics, and cartoons, which add a sense of immediacy and humour to his subject matter.
While a substantial amount of his own energy has gone into researching and conceiving the contemporary significance of the fale and the vaka, Sheyne now adds ornithology (birdlife) to his inquiry and visual lexicon. Sheyne became aware of Manukau’s bird population and local bird lore while living there in 2005. The following year, Sheyne was awarded an artist residency at the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, Christchurch, where he spent time looking at the ancient birds of New Zealand and Samoa.
The works in his 2006 solo exhibition Misplaced Effigies featured giant palaeo-penguins and the mythical moa roaming alongside classic car models. In addition to his fascination with New Zealand’s geological history as a natural sanctuary for a vast array of bird species, Sheyne also draws on his own associations to Samoa. Looking for manumea is a series of woodblock relief prints that focussed on manumea, a large tooth-billed pigeon found only in Samoa.
Sheyne’s recent subject matter explores popular science for a spiritual narrative. In 2019 Sheyne was artist in residence at the Carter Observatory where he a made a body of work responding to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing , highlighting how science and engineering had brought the world together (for a brief moment) when at a time it was falling apart though war and corruption.
Through his research into astronomy, he had an epiphany about our place in the Cosmos. It made him more aware of the fragility of the earths atmosphere and the need to educate children more earlier about science.
Sheyne’s solo exhibitions include Ghost in the Machine, City Gallery Wellington, 2013; USO and the Dragon Slayer, Solander Gallery, Wellington, 2013; The Ancient Mariners, Papakura Art Gallery, Papakura, Auckland, 2011. Select group exhibitions include Freak of nature, Switchback Gallery, Monash University, Victoria, 2011; Out of the Box, Tweed River Art Gallery, Murwillumbah, New South Wales, 2011; Pasifika Styles, Camdridge University Museum, U.K, 2006; and Re-Interpreting the Middle East, and exhibition that toured Palestine, Jordan, Indianapolis, Washington DC, Boise State and Michigan, 2005-2006.
(intro gathered from tautai website)
Academic History
2000 M.F.A (hons) Elam School of Fine Art, University of Auckland,
1995 B.V.A Auckland University of Technology, Auckland,
Solo Exhibition History
2019 Lunar Module, Carter Observatory, Wellington
2014 Siapo Satellite, Massey University, Wellington
2013 Ghost in the Machine, Deane Gallery, Wellington City Gallery
USO and the Dragon Slayer, Solander Gallery, Wellington
2011 The Ancent Mariners, Papkura Art Gallery, Papakura, Auckland
2010 The Garden of Earthly Delights, Waiheke Art gallery, Auckland.
2008 Sonar Interferance, Salamander Gallery, Christchurch
2006 Misplaced Effigies, Flagstaff Gallery, Devonport
Marziart Internationale Galerie. Hamburg, Germany
Penguins and Buicks, Salamander Gallery, Christchurch
2005 The Gondwana Waka, Lane Gallery,Auckland
2005 The Gondwana Waka, Catchment Gallery, Nelson,
2003 Sifi Taavale Fale, Lane Gallery, Auckland,
2002 Salamander Gallery, Christchurch,
2001 Car Paopao. The Lane Gallery, Auckland,
2000 Expressway to Taou, St Agathas Gallery, Mt Eden
1999 Solo99, Camera Lucida Gallery, Oaxaca, Mexico
Porto-Indo, The Ilsington Gallery, London, United Kingdom
1998 Atlantic/Pacific, The Ericeira Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
1997 Monument to Motion, Archill Gallery, Auckland,
1996 Cacophony, The Lane Gallery, Auckland,
Selected Group Exhibitions
2016 Ink masters Exhibition , Cairns, Australia
2015 Line Out, Northern Print Studio, Newcastle, U.K
Wansolwara, Franklin Arts Centre, Pukekoe
2014 BINDING & LOOPING : University of Hawai'i, Manoa
2011 Freak of nature, Monash University, Victoria
Out of the Box, Tweed River Art Gallery, Murwillumbah, N.S.W
2009 Another New Zealand, Another U.S,A COCA, Christchurch
2006 Pasifika Styles, Camdridge University Museum, U.K
Re-Interpreting the Middle East , Khalil Sakikini Center, Ramallah,
Re-Interpreting the Middle East , University of Indianapolis
Re-Interpreting the Middle East ,Bethlehem, Palestine
Mainly Contemporary, Williams Gallery, Wellington
The Paltel Virtual Gallery at Birzeit University, Palestine
2005 Homelands, Cybertribe online Exhibition, Newcastle, Australia
Lima-Pacific Arts, (5th Pacific Festival of CHCH), Christchurch
Face Value: Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Face Value, Museum of Brisbane, Australia
Re-Interpreting the Middle East, SGC Conference, Washington
Re-Interpreting the Middle East, Orfali Art Gallery, Jordan
Re-Interpreting - Sisson Gallery, Dearborn, Michigan
Re-interpreting - Gallery 2, Boise State University,
2004 Printmakers, Catchment Gallery, Nelson,
Wallace Award Finalist Exhibition, Wallace gallery, Auckland
Sumei National Print Exhibit, Newark, N.J, U.S.A
2003 Sydney Art on Paper Fair 2003, Sydney, Australia
20/20, City Art Gallery, Christchurch,
2002 Start Up, Te Papa Museum, Wellington,
Pacifika Ways of Knowing Conference, Columbia University, New York
1999 Brothers, Gallery 482, Brisbane, Australia
1996 Bottled Ocean, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland
Achievements, Residencies and Awards
2022. Relief Online Exhibition, Megalo Print Studio Canberra
2020. Print Edition for the Print Council of Australia
2019 Residence Carter Observatory, Space Place, Wellington
2016 Finalist, Ink masters Print Contest -Cairns, AustraliaFinalist for The Parkin Drawing Prize , Wellington
2014 City Council Commission, “ Barracks Mural”, Mt Cook ,
CoCo Pacifika Arist in Residence 2014 Massey University,
2013 Grey Lynn Community Centre Commission, Mural , AucklandFinalist New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award, Hamilton
2007 -11 Gallery Director, LeSA Gallery, Wellington
2006 Macmillan Brown Centre, Artist in Residence, Canterbury UniversityArtist in residence Samuel Masden College
Artist in residence Howick College, Auckland
Artist in residence Dilworth College, Auckland
2005 Creative New Zealand Grant- Workshop in San Francisco, USA
Artbeatz Activate Award, Auckland
2004 Finalist –James Wallace Awards, Auckland
Finalist - Sumei National Print Awards, Newark, N.J, USA
2003 Wesley Community Centre Commission, Auckland
2002 Martin Hughes Contemporary Pacific Art Award
2001 Resident Artist for Pacific Pathways, Auckland Museum
Collections
Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DCHenry Ford Community College, Dearborn, Michigan
The International Center of Bethlehem, Bethlehem
Manunkau City Council, Auckland
Macmillan Brown collection, Christchurch
Wallace Arts Trust Collection, Auckland
Lincoln University Library , Canterbury
Wellington City Council, Wellington
NZ Diplomatic Residence.Rarotonga
NZ Diplomatic Residence, Addis ababa Ethopia
NZ Diplomatic Residence, Bangkok,Thailand
NZ Diplomatic Residence ,Brasilla, Brasil
NZ Diplomatic Residence. Guangzhou, China
NZ Diplomatic Residence. Honolulu, USA
NZ Diplomatic Residence., Jakarta, Indonesia
NZ Diplomatic Residence.Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
NZ Diplomatic Residence New Delhi, India
NZ Diplomatic Residence Port Vila, Vanuatu
Publications
Pasifika Styles: Artists Inside the Museum -Raymond, Rosanna and Salmond, Amiria, 2008
The Frangipani is Dead: Contemporary Pacific Art in New Zealand- Dr Karen Stevenson, 2008
Taeao tou i mea sina : the first Pacific Festival Contemporary Arts Exhibition, 1996
Articles/ Links
Stuff Article /Dominion Post 2022
Stuff Article/ Dominion post 2022
Eastern Courier 2009
New Zealand Herald 2002