Tony Guo

Discipline:: Visual Arts
Awards:: Springboard Award 2026
Highlight:: “Being awarded with Springboard still feels unreal. When I moved to Aotearoa as a 12-year-old, I could never have imagined standing here.This award affirms that my craft, my vision, and even the parts of my practice I once doubted - its strangeness and intensity, have value. Springboard gives me the space and confidence to commit more fully to my work, to take risks I may have hesitated to take before.The opportunity to work alongside a mentor is especially meaningful. I know it will challenge my assumptions, sharpen my thinking, and expand the scope of what is possible.”
Last Update:: 23/04/2026, 04:39 pm

Tony Guo

Receiving the Springboard Award for Visual Arts gifted by the Edgar Family Trust – Mentored by 2025 Laureate Séraphine Pick

Tony Guo is a Tāmaki Makaurau-based artist predominantly working in oil painting. Born in Aotearoa in 1999 but raised in Northeast China, Tony returned to New Zealand on his own at age twelve. This dislocation, both geographical and cultural, continues to influence his work. Tony’s practice investigates notions of embodied history and queer survival. He makes use of absurdism, creating works in which moments of whimsy mask or stretch existential anguish. Tony’s paintings often show figures involved in apparently specific situations, yet these resist conventional narrative development or psychological explanation.

Panel Statement: “Graduating with a Master of Visual Arts from Auckland University of Technology with First Class Honours, Tony Guo’s works weave together figurative traditions, surrealism, and queer storytelling. Blending art history with personal identity and fantasy, his paintings are compelling and complex. This Springboard Award recognises an emerging artist gaining attention for his distinctive painterly voice and the building momentum of his practice."