Rate My Professor Nick Austin

Nick Austin is the Curator, Art at the Hocken Collections, University of Otago, responsible for the art collections within this renowned research library. Born in Whangārei, New Zealand, in 1979, he completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Auckland University of Technology in 2001, followed by a Master of Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, in 2004. Initially focusing on sculpture during his studies, Austin shifted to painting post-graduation for its sustainability and immediacy, developing a distinctive practice centered on everyday objects, ephemera, and surreal assemblages. His paintings often feature envelopes, fridge notes, books, and food items rendered in meticulous detail, exploring themes of liminality, memory, and the absurd, as seen in works like Books with Cake (2006), which depicts a stack of books topped with a slice of cake and a red button 'cherry' on acrylic hardboard and was selected for the University of Otago's 2024 calendar.

In 2012, Austin received the University of Otago Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, a major award supporting visual artists, during which he created the project The Liquid Dossier, culminating in a solo exhibition at the Hocken Gallery and an accompanying artist book published by Hocken Collections in 2013. His career encompasses over twenty solo exhibitions, including Really Strange Party at Robert Heald Gallery, Wellington (2020); Paleo Apartments at Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland (2017); Time’s Sieve at Peter McLeavey Gallery, Wellington (2014); and Notebook of a Spider at Hopkinson Cundy, Auckland (2012). Group exhibitions feature prominently in institutions such as Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (Necessary Distraction: A Painting Show, 2015; 4th Auckland Triennial, 2010), Dunedin Public Art Gallery (Ridiculous Sublime, 2016), and international venues like Galerie Daniel Buchholz, Cologne, and Westspace, Melbourne. Austin's works are represented in significant public collections, including Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Chartwell Collection, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Hocken Collections, University of Otago, and Victoria University of Wellington. Additional artist publications include Personal Address with Wystan Curnow (Hopkinson Mossman, 2017). Since relocating to Ōtepoti/Dunedin in 2012 following the fellowship, he has contributed to the Hocken Blog with researched posts on collections and maintains an active studio practice alongside his curatorial duties.