A journal of New Zealand art criticism
Yani Rothman.Issue register — Winter 2026
Rothman reviews the work of New Zealand artists — painting, carving, print, clay, and the spaces between. One writer, one opinion.
9 entries — newest first
A single Huia tail feather that sold for about a pound in 1901 (roughly $85 in today’s money), fetched a record $46,521.50 at auction in 2024. Mike Harold explores the story behind the price of extinction in his latest series.
Read the critique →Jade Cavalcante’s charcoal turns like a kaleidoscope, underneath the shifting images is an artist's hand that doesn't appear to hesitant, and which knows one eye sees 'this', and one eye sees 'that', yet both are clearly seeing eye-to-eye.
Read the critique →Nobody at the counter is asked to explain why they prefer a latte, and a cup of coffee is one of the few things we offer each other without sizing each other up first. Traditionally, the role of the artist is pushing back against these fences. To me, Waititi seems to understand this intrinsically, shrugs it off, and chuckles at the futility of the stiff rules.
Read the critique →A landscape cut apart, every piece pulled out of context and examined down to the blades of grass, unchanged, and stitched back together. History and presence sharing one canvas.
Read the critique →No more backyard parties, no more get-togethers, no more barbecues. Serj Tankian, a New Zealand citizen since 2007, paints grief that keeps time, in a country that still won’t say the word. G is for Genocide.
Read the critique →During another weekend of orange wind warnings, I visit Studio 9 at Square Edge and met Robyn Laing. Our weather chitchat turned into a conversation about weathering the conditions. Robyn Laing paints the plants that grow at the edge of the world in the Manawatū.
Read the critique →A review of The Press Kingmakers' Debate, scored round by round — not for policy, but for control, technique, and who tapped first.
Read the critique →Smoke Clouds 5; from stock shots, to high-end aperture, capturing a modern Kiwi contradiction in the act, "Don't look now, but he's right over there!"
Read the critique →Dragging the Toitoi Opera House into the changing rooms, Guy Williams delivered a dark, unfiltered set that had strangers applauding together over politics. Then a Hastings foyer dare, will it send Guy Williams and New Zealand Today after the mystery of Norsewood's missing trolls?
Read the critique →For artists
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