Heather Straka (b. 1972) has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from Elam School of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts from University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts. Straka has been granted a number of awards and held several residencies, including the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship at the University of Otago. The flawless nature of her early sculptural work was to be a precursor to the immaculate technique and precision that has come to characterise her paintings. Her practice regularly explores the nature of authenticity and issues around representation. Earlier works saw her reimagine nineteenth-century portraits by Sydney Parkinson and Gottfried Lindauer. Straka’s project The Asian saw the mass duplication by Chinese artisans of Straka’s interpretation of a portrait based on those Shanghai Girls seen in early 20th century calendar painting. Straka’s series Defenders of New Zealand explores early colonial landscape painting, while other figurative works see her turn attention to more contemporary subject matter, reflecting Aotearoa’s increasingly multicultural identity.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Lost in a Dream, Page Galleries, Wellington
2023
2022
Isolation Hotel, Canterbury Musem, Otautahi Christchurch
2021
Memoria, Page Galleries, Wellington
2020
Dissected Parlour, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Otautahi Christchurch
2017
The Strangers’ Room, Trish Clark Gallery, Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau
2016
The HONEYTRAP returns, Page Blackie Gallery, Wellington
X Marks the Spot, Nadene Milne Gallery, Arrowtown
2015
Somebodies Eyes, Trish Clark Gallery, Auckland
The HONEYTRAP, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
2013
Blood Lust, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
Playdate, Nadene Milne Gallery, Arrowtown
Auckland Art Fair, Page Blackie Gallery, Wellington
2012
Playdate, Page Blackie Gallery, Wellington
The Noble Savage, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
2011
The Asian, Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, Auckland, and Rotorua Museum, Rotorua
2010
Do Not Resuscitate, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
The Attendants & Do Not Resuscitate, Page Blackie Gallery, Wellington
The Asian, Tauranga Art Gallery, Tauranga
2009
Do Not Resuscitate, Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin
Lost in Translation, Khunstler Haus, Solothurn, Switzerland
The Sleeping Room, Hocken Gallery, Dunedin
2008
Donor, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
(Life) Still, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
2007
The Banquet, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
2006
Selling Happyness, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
2005
Paradise Lost, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
Paradise Revisited, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
2004
First Impressions, Milford Gallery, Dunedin
2003
Joker, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
The Game, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
Untitled exhibition, Gallery Via, Prague
2002
Roxburgh Classics, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
2001
No Subject Specified, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
Wallflower, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
Manufacturing Roxburgh, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
Not Seen to be Staring, Madame & the Bastard (pseudonym), Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
2000
Public & Private, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
Imported Whiteware, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
1999
Stain, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
Not Seen to be Staring, Madame & the Bastard (pseudonym), Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
1998
Courtesy of Docteur L Guyot, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
1996
Room 101, Teststrip Gallery, Auckland
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Stop Making Sense: Surrealist Legacies, The Suter Art Gallery, Nelson Whakatū
2020
Everything Old is New Again: The Turnbull Library at 100, NZ Portrait Gallery, Wellington
2014
Group Exhibition, Nadene Milne Gallery, Arrowtown
2013
Group Show, Page Blackie Gallery, Wellington
2011
Small Things, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
2010
Forever After: Conversations with the Past, Hocken Gallery, Hocken Collections, Dunedin
2009
Beloved: Works from the Dunedin Public Art
Gallery, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin
Landscapes, Page Blackie Gallery, Wellington
2008
Wallace Art Awards, touring exhibition Auckland and Wellington
2007
Paheka Now, The Suter Gallery, Nelson
2006
Group exhibition, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
Group exhibition, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Auckland
2004
Landscapes, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
2002
ROSL Touring Scholars exhibition, London and Edinburgh
2001
Recent Acquisitions, Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch
2000
Group exhibition, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
Recent Acquisitions, University of Canterbury, Christchurch
Group exhibition, Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch
Group exhibition, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
1999
Visa Gold Art Award, touring exhibition Auckland and Wellington
Group exhibition, Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland
1997
Laying it on Thick, Artspace, Auckland
1995
150 Ways of Loving, Artspace, Auckland
1993
Adgenda, Artspace, Auckland