Julian Hooper’s images emerge out of reduced configurations of abstract shapes and motifs. His paintings exploit the linear style of his drawings, and introduce elements of collage with pieces of painted canvas adhered to the front and sides of the supports. He often favours a graphic construction over painterly nuance, exploiting the reductive simplicity of drawing, and making room for additions such as the trompe l’oeil painted timber frames, and the physical properties of torn canvas.   Hooper’s paintings present themselves as riddles that need to be carefully considered and turned over; closer to being masks than portraits, in that they attempt to conceal their personal meanings.   Julian has exhibited extensively in Auckland, (New Zealand), Sydney, (Australia) and New York, (USA) since 1990. Most recently he featured in Turangawaewae: Art and New Zealand, at The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (2018) and in Necessary Distraction, a survey of contemporary New Zealand painting at the Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tamaki (2016). His work is represented in the Queensland Art Gallery collection, and several major collections throughout New Zealand including the Chartwell and Wallace collections, Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, Dunedin Public Art Collection, and the University of Auckland collection.   Julian Hooper (b. 1966, Auckland, New Zealand) currently lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand.