Reflections on REUBEN PATERSON
euben Paterson was fresh out of art school when he left Auckland for Aviz, France, in 1997, to participate in the esteemed Moët & Chandon Arts Fellowship. Living on the outskirts of Paris in a crumbling chateau, he cycled to the station at any opportunity to journey to the city and visit the museums and galleries. Where previously the canon of art history had been contained in books, he revelled in the physicality and immediacy of an international art world that was suddenly available to him. Following the residency, Paterson spent two years living and working in the United Kingdom. Despite the romance of these international experiences, Paterson credits the employment of kōwhaiwhai in his practice, upon his return to Aotearoa, as the
