Glitterist sprinkles art for Spark

Reuben Paterson is not your average artist.

He adds glitter, diamond dust, and other glamorous materials to his creations to make them more personal, unique and dimensional.

His latest shimmering artworks feature blended botanical-kowhaiwhai that hang upon Waikato University’s Calder & Lawson Gallery’s walls as Paterson’s latest exhibition.

In association with Wintec’s Spark Festival Tougher than Diamonds brings together glitter paintings and panel art work that express where Paterson’s style as an artist is at this moment.

“What’s different with this work is it’s getting detailed and a lot more technical. The intricacy, the detail, and my demand on the technique is starting to really come through.”

Tougher than Diamonds has reference to traditional kowhaiwhai, his grandmother’s dresses, father’s ties, wallpaper designs and other textiles.

“It evokes nostalgia.”

Paterson’s obsession for glitter came while he was studying at Elam School of Fine Arts in Auckland.

“It [school] had a very different structure to what it does now. There was an enforced sense of play in the 90s where materials were about investigating, exploring and having fun with.”

At art school glitter was introduced into Paterson’s painting practice for the first time and the continuous use developed from there.

The inspiration for this material come from his upbringing on Piha Beach.

“The black sand sparkles just the same way as does the sea when the sun hits it.

“As plastic as the material is, it still has a connection back to my past about the natural things.”

As an artist, Paterson likes to incorporate both his Maori and Scottish backgrounds into his art and style.

“It’s investigatory, researching, and considering the influences from the past to keep informing how it finds it’s own momentum again, just like a koru.”

The death of his father 15 years ago acted as a vehicle for his art career to start, with his first works being for him.

“Through the despair of grief also comes the celebration of not only him but the career I think he has given me through the work I made for him.

“Being of Maori descent, that’s where the kowhaiwhai images I was creating were based from, Matata and my father. It was a mihi for my father and about my father.”

He believes his father has kept giving even after his death.

The approach to these materials as art medium has created many opportunities for his works to shine at many places around the world.

“The black sand sparkles just the same way as does the sea when the sun hits it.” Paterson

Paterson’s artwork has featured in an exhibition at the University of Cambridge in England and in the Prague Biennale, the biggest art exhibition in Prague, Czech Republic.

His work has also been displayed at the BCA Gallery in Rarotonga, in several galleries throughout New Zealand and Australia and on residencies in South Korea, Greece and New York.

On Thursday, he shared the good and bad stories surrounding audiences’ thoughts on his public art at his Spark presentation.

The presentation allowed Paterson to ask and answer questions and to have a participatory role with the audience.

“When I was thinking about talking [at Spark] I really wanted to talk about things that hadn’t been discussed that sit behind the work.”

In the end the presentation become about transparency and about Paterson being open, fearless, and telling stories about what nobody else knows.

“To open the world of an artwork up. An artwork has a life and it has a trajectory… The stories that happen to its life we don’t often get to hear.”