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Artist Bill Hammond photographed with one of his paintings in 1994.
Lyttelton-born artist Bill Hammond, known for the environmental and social-conscious themes of his work, has passed away.
He was considered one of the most influential contemporary painters in New Zealand.
Olivia McLeavey, whose family gallery in Wellington has represented Hammond for the past 40 years, has confirmed the death to RNZ News.
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McLeavey, who was informed by Hammond’s wife of the death, said he died Saturday night.
Christchurch WaiwhetÅ Spring Art Gallery
A painting titled The Fall of Icarus, by Bill Hammond who died.
Artistic commentator Hamish Keith was one of the first to pay tribute to Hammond, describing him as “a wonderful artist and a very charming man.”
Hammond was born in 1947 and attended the Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury from 1966 to 1968.
Although it was not until 1980 that he began exhibiting his paintings, it was not long before the New Zealand art community realized, the Independent guide to contemporary art in New Zealand He says.
He addressed social and environmental issues, and his work often contained messages about humanity and its status as an endangered species.
He had a great interest in music, which is seen in much of his early work. A change in Hammond’s practice came in the early 1990s after he returned from a trip to the remote Auckland Islands, where there are no people and birds rule the roost.
His work included themes of threatened environments and the vulnerability of life in a precarious world.
Hammond had his first solo show at the Peter McLeavey Gallery in Wellington in March 1987. More than 20 other gallery shows followed.
One of his best known works, Fall of Icarus, is exhibited in the Christchurch Te Puna or Waiwhetū Art Gallery.
