Robin Slow, has become known nationally as one of our country’s most prolific contemporary Māori artists, completing thousands of works over his long and busy career.

Slow has done hundreds of sold-out solo and group exhibitions around the country, and, for more than 20 years, has worked with the whānau at Onetahua Marae, near Tākaka, producing murals, traditional instruments, weaving, kōwhaiwhai (motifs) and carving. He has also had the overall responsibility for the design and layout of the wharenui, Te Ao Marama.

Slow has also completed a number of kōwhaiwhai, heke boards and artworks for significant locations and buildings around the region, including the Suter Gallery and Whakatū building in Nelson, and Tōtaranui, Wainui, Te Waikoropupū Springs and schools, in Golden Bay.

His visual art is steeped in Māori symbology and mythology. He weaves a strong element of story-telling into his work, often incorporating birds as the original people of the country. He sees the interconnectedness of everything in life as fundamental to Māori art, and painting is the way he makes sense of the world. He has also used his art as a way of "dealing with his own whakapapa" which is unknown.

He cites Onetahua as an influence in his work: "the area, the people, the natural resources and the protection of them, the histories and stories".

RED Gallery houses a small collection of Robins work  - please contact us for more information.