Bill Hammond was born in Christchurch in 1947 and passed away in January 2021. He was a resident of Lyttleton and graduated from the University of Canterbury’s School of Fine Arts.
After ten years as a toy maker he started painting in the early 80’s. He derived most of his images during the 1980’s from popular culture, in particular punk music and comic imagery, the subject matter of these early paintings were often rock singers and fitness fanatics.
After a trip to the Auckland Islands where there are no humans and bird life was prolific he read a book entitled “Bullers Birds of New Zealand” He said “I saw a New Zealand before there were men, women, dogs and possums. When you see it without people, you know that the soulful, beautiful thing about New Zealand is the land.”
These experiences influenced his later and most well known works incorporating clothed, half human, half bird creatures in an imagined world where birds still rule the roost.
Hammond is now regarded as one of New Zealand’s most important artists.
