Renowned New Zealand artist Matt Pine dies aged 79 in Whanganui

Matt Pine next to his reinstalled work 'Cone Piece' at the Whanganui War Memorial Centre. Photo / Supplied

Renowned Whanganui artist Matt Pine has died at the age of 79.

Pine, who has a significant national profile in the art world, died on August 5.

His work Cone Piece was recently reinstalled in Whanganui's War Memorial Centre, having been taken down in 2003 for cleaning and then disappearing into storage.

Cone Piece was first installed in the building in 1985 after being commissioned by architect Bruce Dickson.

Sarjeant Gallery director Greg Anderson said Pine was one of New Zealand's most recognised artists.

"Matt had a long-standing relationship with the Sarjeant which resulted in wonderful friendships and a number of acquisitions for the collection," Anderson said.

"We pay our respects to one of the New Zealand art world's most charismatic and talented personalities."

Pine, of Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Tūwharetoa descent, was born and raised in Whanganui and educated at Whanganui Collegiate School.

He studied at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts Auckland University and Christchurch Teachers College, before travelling through the Far East, Africa, Europe and the USSR.

Recently, Pine's work featured in Auckland Art Gallery's exhibition Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art.

WH Milbank Gallery owner Bill Milbank, who was the director at the Sarjeant Gallery for 30 years, said he worked with Pine on a number of exhibitions there from the mid-1970s onwards.

"Matt was from a Putiki family, and they saw him as being born to be the iwi artist," Milbank said.

"While he was in England he became very interested in modernist sculpture, and as he progressed he started to reference the architectural structuring of things Māori, in informal abstract terms."

Pine at the original installation in 1985. Photo / Supplied

While living in England in the 1960s, Pine studied graphic design at the Central School of Art & Craft in London and photography and sculpture at the Hornsey College of Art.

He founded Te Wa/the Space Gallery in Whanganui in 1999.

Pine was "tenacious, and very focused on what he wanted to achieve", Milbank said.

"Generally, talking with Matt tended to be a one-way conversation, with him talking about his work.

"He and I had a very good relationship, and I always felt very privileged to have the chance to take his work out to the wider community."

In recent times, Pine's work had been picked up "very vigorously" by curators in Auckland, Taranaki and Wellington, Milbank said.

"He's very much sitting in the top end of Māori sculptors, and he has taken up a very important profile nationally.

"I'm really pleased that's happened, and that I played a little part in the process of making that happen."

Pine's funeral service will be held at St Paul's Anglican Memorial Church, Putiki, at 1pm on Friday, August 13.