Reuben Paterson (Ngāti Rangitihi, Ngāi Tūhoe, Tūhourangi, Scottish) was born in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland in 1973. His world-bending art reaches back to his childhood experiences of the glistening waters and sparkling black sands of Tamaki Makarau's West Coast. His signature use of glitter carries all these memories and the people, presences, and histories to which they connect. Always pushing what he describes as the 'limitless' material and conceptual possibilities of glitter, Paterson's paintings, sculptures, animations, and installations share an optical energy that harnesses the mesmerising effects of pattern, colour, and texture.

Paterson uses the transformative properties of light to reach beyond appearances and pry open the complex histories and tensions that sit just beneath the surface of all things. His art is made in celebration of exchange and encounter, hybridity and fluidity, spirituality and sexuality, and is especially attuned to the dynamics of queer identity and whakapapa (genealogy)-based modes of cultural knowledge. 

Based in New York, Reuben Paterson has exhibited nationally and internationally since 2000.  He has staged recent solo exhibitions at City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi (2023), Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (2022) and The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt (2020), and has featured in significant group exhibitions such as Night Market, Christies New York (2024) and Acid Bath House, Nina Johnson Gallery, Miami (2025); the largest survey of contemporary Māori art, Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (2020); Contemporary Asian and Pacific Art, The National Gallery of Victoria, Australia (2016). Paterson has participated in major international  art fairs and biennales, including The Beauty of Distance: Songs of survival in a precarious age, 17th Biennial of Sydney, Sydney, Australia (2010); Asia Pacific Triennial, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (2009); nEUclear Reactions, Prague Biennial, Czech Republic (2010); and the 9th Pacific Biennial, Republic of Palau (2001). Paterson’s recent public art commissions include Guide Kaiārahi at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (2021-26); Te Maiea, Aotea Square, Auckland (2021); and The Golden Bearing, Puketkura Garden of National Significance, Taranaki, New Zealand (2016). His works are housed in major public and private collections across Australasia. Paterson’s commitment to reaching outside of the art world and connecting art, industry, fashion and politics has led to long term collaborations with WORLD Fashion house and Dilana Rugs.

Panel Statement: “Reuben Paterson has made a significant contribution to contemporary New Zealand art that spans nearly three decades. He has amassed a dazzling creative output as a painter who fuses fashion, sculpture and installation art.  Paterson’s art practice has been collected extensively throughout Aotearoa and abroad. His work has been included in seminal exhibition projects here and in Australia over this time. Paterson’s art practice has reimagined new conversations about customary kōwhaiwhai and floral motif using glitter, diamond dust, mylar and animation that illuminated his Māori and Pākehā whakapapa. Equally he has made an important contribution, giving voice to queer identity within contemporary New Zealand art in ways that inspired visibility here and abroad. We acknowledge his outstanding contribution and cultural impact with this Laureate.” – Laureate Selection Panel 

Thank you to Corner Store for helping us tell these stories of impact – with filming in New York by Henry Hargreaves.