Matt Arbuckle

Matt Arbuckle is an Aotearoa/New Zealand-born artist living and working between Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Naarm/Melbourne. Arbuckle has a BFA from Unitec Institute of Technology, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2009), and has held solo exhibitions at Daine Singer (Melbourne), Two Rooms (Auckland), Hastings City Art Gallery (New Zealand), Bus Projects (Melbourne), Parlour Projects (Hawks Bay, New Zealand), Paulnache Gallery (Gisborne, New Zealand), Vermont Studio Center (USA), and Baustelle Gallery (Berlin).

He has participated in group exhibitions including at ChaShama (New York), Drill Hall Gallery (Canberra), Hugo Michell Gallery (Adelaide), TCB (Melbourne), Hanging Valley (Melbourne), Caves (Melbourne), Haydens (Melbourne), The Pah Homestead, TSB Wallace Arts Trust (Auckland), Gowlangsford (Auckland), Laree Payne (Hamilton), and Salamanca Arts Centre (Hobart). Arbuckle has participated in art fairs including Aotearoa Art Fair, Sydney Contemporary, Melbourne Art Fair, and Spring1883.

Arbuckle was the recipient of the 2017 James Wallace Art Fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center, USA, followed by a solo exhibition there in 2018. In 2020–21 he was invited to present a solo exhibition at Hastings City Art Gallery, Aotearoa New Zealand. In 2021 he undertook a residency at Driving Creek, Coromandel, Aotearoa New Zealand.

Arbuckle’s work is held in the Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki; the Wallace Arts Trust Collection; Driving Creek Potteries, New Zealand, and the Arthur and Suzie Roe Collection, Melbourne. In 2022 Arbuckle was a recipient of the Melbourne Art Fair’s large-scale installation commission Beyond, supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants and the Melbourne Art Foundation.

In 2025 RIM Books published Place to Place, a new book bringing together Arbuckle’s works from 2019 - 2025, focusing on recent exhibitions: Bow Echo (2023) at Two Rooms Gallery, Auckland and Subduction and Abduction (2024) at Daine Singer, Melbourne, with essays by Lucinda Bennett and Emily Cormack.

Matt Arbuckle: Place to Place, Rim Books, NZ, 2025 »

Lucinda Bennett, 'Subduction and Abduction', catalogue essay, Daine Singer, Melbourne, AUS, 2024 >>

Emily Cormack, ‘Time Like a Cut Batter’, catalogue essay, Daine Singer, Melbourne, AUS, 2023 >>

Erin Lee ‘Full house’ catalogue essay, Auckland, NZ, 2021 >>

John Hurrell, Review of ‘Reading Hands’, Eye Contact, 2020 >>

Laura Couttie ‘Reading Hands’ catalogue essay, Auckland, NZ, 2020 >>

Matt Arbuckle (b. 1987, New Zealand, lives in Melbourne/Naarm and Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau)

Education
2009 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Art), Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland

Solo Exhibitions
2025 The Punch (Forthcoming), Daine Singer, Melbourne, AUS
2025 Common Fate, Two Rooms, Auckland, NZ
2024 Mappa Mundi, Spa_ce Napier, Napier, NZ
2024  Subduction and Abduction, Daine Singer, Melbourne, AUS
2024  Theatre, Two Rooms, Auckland, NZ
2023  Triassic-Jurassic, Daine Singer, Melbourne AUS
2023  Bow Echo, Two Rooms, Auckland, NZ
2022  Colour Vision, Two Rooms, Auckland, NZ
2021  Reflection is Reflection, Daine Singer, Melbourne, AUS
2021  In the Echoes, Two Rooms, Auckland, NZ
2020  Recto/ Verso, Hastings City Art Gallery, NZ
2020  Reading Hands, Two Rooms, Auckland, NZ
2020  Daine Singer at Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne
2019  All The More Afraid, David, Melbourne, AUS
2018  Commute to Compute, Vermont Studio Centre, Vermont, USA
2018  Low Cloud, Parlour Projects, Hawks Bay, NZ
2018  Melbourne Art Fair with Tim Melville, AUS
2017  Find Your Way, Tim Melville, Auckland, NZ
2017  Easy Fold, BUS projects, Melbourne, AUS
2017  Beatbox Blues Harp, Daine Singer, Melbourne, AUS
2016  Structures of Viewing, Tim Melville, Auckland, NZ
2016  Scales at Play, Neo Space, Melbourne, AUS
2016  Eye Shots, Paulnache Gallery, NZ
2015  Digression, Tim Melville, Auckland, NZ
2015  Wrestling Posters Cause Fights, Fontanelle Gallery, Adelaide, AUS
2015  BillyCart Installation, Brunswick Lake Gallery, Melbourne, AUS
2015  Look/See, Chapter House Gallery, Melbourne, AUS
2014  Slug und Salat, Augusto Space, Auckland, NZ
2014  Slug und Lettuce, Paulnache Gallery, Gisbourne, NZ
2013  Raunmschiff Betreuen, Baustelle Gallery, Berlin, DE
2013  Pictorial Grammar, Holborn Building Space, London, UK
2012  Who Moved My Cheese, Paulnache Gallery, Gisborne, NZ
2011  Periscope Dots, Ninety Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2010  Shit Hit The Fan, The Gallery With No Name, Auckland, NZ

Group Exhibitions (selected)
2025 Seasonal Shifts, Town Hall Gallery, AUS
2025 Aotearoa Art Fair, NZ
2024 Minor Attractions, London, UK
2024  Melbourne Art Fair, AUS
2024  Aotearoa Art Fair, NZ
2023  Daine Singer at Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney, AUS
2023  Sydney Contemporary, AUS
2023  Core Sample, Two Rooms, Auckland, NZ
2022  Aotearoa Art Fair, NZ
2022  O Horizon, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, AUS
2022  DAS BOOT: Artist Car Boot Fair, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, AUS
2022  Beyond (curated by Emily Cormack), Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne, AUS
2022  Lazar, Haydens, AUS
2021  Four X Four, McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery, AUS
2021  Spring1883, Melbourne, AUS
2021  Text Tile, Caves Gallery Melbourne, AUS
2021  Full House, Hapua Street, Auckland, NZ
2021  Frieze, Gowlangsford Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2021  Spring1883, Daine Singer, Melbourne, AUS
2021  Auckland Art Fair, Two Rooms Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2021  Intimate Interiors, Parlour Projects, Hawks Bay, NZ
2020  Daine Singer at Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne, AUS
2020  My Funny Valentine, Missing Persons, Melbourne, AUS
2019  Summer Show, Weasel Gallery, Hamilton, NZ
2019  Auckland Art Fair with Parlour Projects, Auckland NZ
2019  Dogs are Playful, Neospace, Melbourne, AUS
2019  Regarding theWild, ChaShama, New York, USA
2018  Winter Sun, Daine Singer, Melbourne, AUS
2018  Brunswick Sculpture Centre, Melbourne, AUS
2018  A Hush Fell, Collingwood, Melbourne, AUS
2018  Colour & Line II, Tim Melville, Auckland, NZ
2018  I like Anything, Tans Martial Arts, Melbourne, AUS
2018  Passenger, Perera-Picco Artspace, Adelaide, AUS
2017  ICON, Richmond Townhall Gallery, Melbourne, AUS
2017  South, North, and Indented Head, Hugo Michell, Adelaide, AUS
2017  Bricolage, ACSA, Adelaide, AUS
2016  Re - Purpose, Drill Hall Gallery, Canberra, AUS
2016  Middle Distance, Praxis Artspace, Adelaide, AUS
2016  National Contemporary Art Award, Waikato Museum, NZ
2016  Chain of Mountains, TCB, Melbourne, AUS
2016  Auckland Art Fair with Tim Melville, NZ
2016  More Ground, Hanging Valley, Melbourne, AUS
2016  Painting Matter, Daine Singer, Melbourne, AUS
2016  48 Stunden Neukölln, Baustelle Gallery, Berlin, DE
2016  Painting Prog, The Pah Homestead, TSB Wallace Arts Trust, NZ
2015  Sydney Contemporary Art Fair with Tim Melville, Sydney, AUS
2015  The Emperors New Clothes, Morrinsville Whare Toi Wallace Gallery, NZ
2015  The smell of an oily rag, Fort Delta Gallery, Melbourne, AUS
2015  The Emperors New Clothes, M Contemporary Gallery, Sydney, AUS
2015  The Emperors New Clothes, Paulnache Gallery, Gisborne, NZ
2014  Now You See It, Tim Melville Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2014  A Beautiful Life, Paulnache Gallery, Gisbourne, NZ
2014  Melbourne Art Fair Paulnache Gallery, Melbourne AUS
2014  Tools of the Trade, The Wandering Room, Brisbane, AUS
2014  Lying In Space, Upstairs 30 Gallery, Wellington, NZ
2014  The Aggregate & the Algorithm, Tristian Koenig Gallery, Melbourne,AUS
2014  Three Colours White, Tim Melville Gallery Auckland, NZ
2014  Bootie Time, Das Boot, Next Wave Festival, Melbourne, AUS
2014  Frameless, Development Residency & Gallery, Auckland, NZ2014   LegRoom, Studio 40, Auckland, NZ
2014   Pitch2, BaumgartenBrandt Rechtsanwälte, Berlin DE
2013  Starlight Kurzen, Baustelle Gallery, Berlin, DE
2013  Build the | das Bild, Berthelsdorfer str, Berlin, DE
2013  Ost Und Wieder, Baustelle Gallery, Berlin, DE
2012  Small Works Gallery, Brisbane, AUS
2011  Show Me Dont, Tell Me, Ninety Gallery Auckland, NZ
2010  Rhubarb Shoots, Shed 5, Auckland, NZ
2009  Nicht So Schlimm, High Street Project, Christchurch, NZ

Awards
2023  Finalist, Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, VIC
2022  Finalist, National Contemporary Art Award, Waikato Art Museum NZ
2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 Finalist, Wallace Art Awards NZ
2017  Finalist, Arthur Guy Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery, VIC
2019  Finalist, Bayside Prize, VIC
2016  Finalist, National Contemporary Art Award, Waikato Art Museum NZ

Residencies
2021  Auckland Print Studio (forthcoming)
2021  Driving Creek Railway, NZ
2018  Vermont Studio Art Centre USA
2018  Artist residency exchange at the Durrmu Arts Aboriginal Corporation

Collections
Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, New Zealand
Driving Creek Potteries collection, New Zealand
James Wallace Arts Trust, New Zealand
Arthur Roe Collection, Australia
Whitehorse City Council

Bibliography
2025 Matt Arbuckle: Place to Place, Rim Books, NZ
2024 Lucinda Bennett, 'Subduction and Abduction', cat. essay, Daine Singer, Melbourne
2023  Emily Cormack, ‘Time Like a Cut Batter, cat. essay, Daine Singer, Melbourne
2021  Erin Lee, Full house, cat. essay, https://www.the-art-paper.com/full-house/
2020  John Hurrell, Review of Reading Hands exhibition, Eye Contact https://eyecontactmagazine.com/2020/05/arbuckle-abstractions
2020  Laura Coutie, Reading Hands, cat. essay, Two Rooms, Auckland
2018  Simon McGlinn, Blind Carbon Copy, cat essay
2018  Loni Jeffs, Winter Sun at Daine Singer, review, UN Magazine
2017  Glenn Iseger-Pilkington, Middle Distance, cat. essay
2016  Anthony Oats, Repurpose, cat. essay, Drill Hall, Australian National University Canberra
2016  Camilia Wagstaff, interview, Art Collector Magazine, issue 77
2016  Quentin Sprague, More Ground (Matt Arbuckle & Robert Fielding) cat. essay
2015  Reece King, Emma Smith and Richard Fahey, Programme One, cat. essays
2014  T.J. McNamara, review, Dashing-way-with-the-abstract, New Zealand Herald