"As a teenager, my talent was nurtured by an art teacher who had a profound effect on me and I went on to complete a Diploma in Graphic Art at AIT, Auckland, and a Diploma of Fine Art, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland.

After working with oil paint for many years, I eventually cast them aside in favour of the quicker-drying time of acrylic paint. It allows me to build upon layer upon layer of paint on the canvas with great ease. Every one of these thin layers is influenced by the layer before it. 

It would not be totally fitting to describe my way of working as hyper-realist, nor would it be fitting to describe it as Pointillist. It sits somewhere in between. Everything appears perfect, a blanket of smooth acrylic detail draped around a canvas. However, on closer inspection, it is a flurry of marks and strokes, a violent haze of opposing directions.

I have explored the relationship between New Zealand's landscape and those who inhabit it. In my paintings of suburban scenes, you can see vegetation pushing its way up through the concrete and the buildings."

-- Michael Rowland