Jon Chapman-Smith
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Born in England in 1977, JonChapman-Smith attended Auckland's Unitec School of Design, where he graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Design majoring in Graphic Design. Chapman-Smith's artistic practice is multi-disciplinary, combining elements of printmaking, carving, and painting with aparticular insistence on the translation of the hand-created intodigital form and the utilisation of modern production techniques astools of a modern artistic palette.
While Chapman-Smith's work can be readon multiple levels, it is underscored by a desire to elicit a connection between the past and the present by emphasising therelevance of roots, history and tradition in the face of a modern society that places value in ephemeral objects. Chapman-Smith's recent work draws on themes of multiculturalism and the interaction and merging of different cultures, while still insisting on the cultural and ancestral importance of each as a separate component of the modern'whole'.
In his debut solo exhibition Full Circle,Chapman-Smith traced his own ancestry through Chinese, Italian and Irish backgrounds, using symbolic elements from each as significant emblems in the composition and subject matter of the works. Hislatest sculpture Seasons intricately weaves Maori andChinese symbology into four triangular panels that join together to form a glowing lantern pyramid.
Alongside his artistic practice, Chapman-Smith is a successful illustrator and designer and the driving force behind designcompany Fuman, based in downtown Auckland.