Toby Raine

Artist Profile

Biography

Raine’s family managed to take a road trip to the Coromandel last year, a welcome escape after lockdown. Lord Huron had just released their fourth studio album, Long Lost. It was the perfect soundtrack for a first family vacation. The poetic lyricism marked the beauty of the coast and the tranquility of the landscape. It also served as a happy escapism on their return to the city just before lockdown set in again, listening to it at home was a reminder of the ‘getaway’.
Music has always been an integral part of Toby Raine’s studio practice, often informing his subject matter. With this body of work, he borrows from surreal and melancholic cadences, to consider the softer aspects of the characters that he often paints. Peaceful introspective protagonists, in meadows and natural environment with their pets, and thoughts, in private moments of reflection, gratitude and unbridled freedom:

Send me to the mountains
Let me go free forever (ever)
I’ll be running through the forest
Dancing in the fields like this forever (ever)

Inspired by the hangover of academia and then spurred on methodically by music, New Zealand-based Toby Raine has emerged as a leading figure in the contemporary New Zealand art-scape for his heavily impasto and gestural portraits. Raine completed his Doctorate of Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts. In Australia, represented by James Makin Gallery, the artist has quickly gained a strong collectorship, with a sell-out Australian debut solo exhibition, Hair of the Dog. Raine is a regular finalist in the Wallace Art Awards and the Molly Morpeth Canaday Award.

BIOGRAPHY

Send me to the mountains
Let me go free forever (ever)
I’ll be running through the forest
Dancing in the fields like this forever (ever)

Exhibitions

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023
Solo exhibition, Toby Raine, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne Art Fair

2022
Long Lost, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
Iconic, Scott Lawrie, Auckland

2021
The last innocent thing left, Scott Lawrie Gallery, Auckland
Reverent, Scott Lawrie Gallery, Auckland

2020
Saints, Sinners, Saliva, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2019
Heroines and Heroin, Paige Blackie, Wellington

2018
Hair of the Dog, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
Heroes and Hangovers, Gow Langsford, Auckland
Smoke ’em if you got ’em, Page Galleries, Wellington

2017
Sydney Contemporary, Paige Blackie
Man Crush, Paige Blackie, Wellington.

2016
Man Crush, Gus Fisher, Auckland

2015
The Beard Portraits, Wallace Gallery Morrinsville Flexi-Space, Morrinsville

2013
666 Chapter Two, George Fraser Gallery, Auckland

2012
Omen, Second Storey Gallery, Auckland
Atrocity Kitchen, RM Gallery, Auckland

2011
Deep Zen Pill, St Paul Street Gallery Three, Auckland

2009
First, Solo Exhibition, Space 20

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023
Summer New, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2022
Summer New, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
Sensation 22 Group Show, Scott Lawrie, Auckland

2021
Sydney Contemporary, Online
The Lockdown, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
Summer New, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2020
Semicolon Project, Charity Auction, Foenander Gallery Auckland
Stronger at the broken Places. Creative Art Napier Art Gallery, New Zealand
Virtual Viewing Room, Melbourne Art Fair (MAF) Jun 1-7, Melbourne
Auckland Art Fair, Gow Langsford Gallery, Melbourne

2019
Beyond Kapene Kuku/Captain Cook, Page Blackie Gallery, Wellington
Heroines and Heroin, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland
A Thousand Stories, Charity Auction, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland

2018
Sydney Contemporary, Booth B02, Gow Langsford Gallery, Sydney

2017
Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Page Blackie stand, Sydney
Identification, The Vivian, Matakana
Works from the Toxic Room, Antoinette Godkin Gallery, Auckland

2016
Works from the Toxic Room, Antoinette Godkin Gallery, Auckland
Wallace Art Awards Travelling Show, The Dowse, Wellington
The Collector/ Gather Part 4, Wallace Gallery Morrinsvile
Annual Wallace Art Awards Finalist Exhibition, Auckland
Show, curated by Ed Hanfling, Ramp Gallery, Hamilton
A Case of Misdirection, curated by Justin Jade Morgan and Karl Bayly, Wallace Gallery
Morrinsville Molly Morpeth Canaday Award Finalist Exhibition

2015
Wallace Art Awards Travelling Show, The Dowse, Wellington
Walker & Hall Waiheke Art Award Finalist Exhibition. Waiheke
Annual Wallace Art Awards Finalist Exhibition, Auckland
No Remedy, but More, Antoinette Godkin Gallery, Auckland
Much of Muchness, Wallace Gallery Morrinsville, Morrinsville
Nadene Milne Summer Group Exhibition, Arrowtown
Molly Morpeth Canaday Award Finalist Exhibition

2014
Saloon Des Ferari, Ferari Gallery, Auckland
Molly Morpeth Canaday Award Finalist Exhibition
Painting Now: Out of Elam, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre

2013
Saloon Des Ferari, Ferari Gallery, Auckland
666 Chapter One/Oh Dr Heaven, Toby Raine and Guy Howard Smith,
St Paul Street Gallery Three
When Music’s the Muse, Group Show, Uxbridge Creative Centre
National Contemporary Art Award, Waikato Museum, Hamilton
Fanatic: Toby Raine and Rebecca Delange, Strines Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Painting Now: Out of Elam, The Vivian Gallery, Matakana

2012
Saloon Des Ferari, Ferari Gallery, Auckland Wallace Art Awards Travelling Show,
The Dowse, Wellington
Annual Wallace Art Awards Finalist Exhibition, Auckland
Best of Second Storey, Second Storey Gallery
Gordon’s Walters Prize Exhibition, Snake Pit Gallery
Glaister Ennor Graduate Award Exhibition, Orex Gallery
Launch 2011, Projectspace B431 To Take Place, Window Gallery, Auckland

Awards

AWARDS, PRIZES & RESIDENCIES

2016
Annual Wallace Art Awards Finalist

2016
Molly Morpeth Canaday Award Finalist

2015
Walker and Hall Waiheke Art Award Finalist
Annual Wallace Art Awards Finalist Molly Morpeth Canaday Award Finalist

2014
Molly Morpeth Canaday Award Finalist

2013
National Contemporary Art Award Finalist

2012
Annual Wallace Art Awards Finalist
Glaister Ennor Graduate Art Award Finalist
NZAAT Emerging Artist Award Winner
Studio Art Supplies Artists Alliance Award Winner
Molly Morpeth Canaday Award Finalist

2011
Annual Wallace Art Awards Finalist TCAC Emerging Artist Awards Finalist

2010
Rob Thomas Auckland Art Challenge Overall Winner
Henrietta and Lola Anne Tunbridge Watercolour Scholarship Winner
Adam Portraiture Award Ffinalist
Denise Gerard Scholarship Winner

2009
Main Art Award Winner Henrietta and Lola Anne Tunbridge Watercolour Scholarship Finalist

2008
Adam Portraiture Award Finalist

ARTWORKS

Toby Raine When the Artist becomes Baron Yeti he runs with the Bulls naked, with Roses 2023 Oil on canvas 150 x 120 cm $14,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Toby Raine The Embrace of Josh Tillman (Father John Misty) and Elizabeth Woodridge Grant (Lana Del Ray) 2023 Oil on canvas 150 x 120 cm $14,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Toby Raine The Conscience of Lana Del Ray (Lana Del Ray is not her Real Name!) 2023 Oil on canvas 150 x 120 cm $14,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Toby Raine Orville Peck Ruminating about Removing his Mask 2023 Oil on canvas 150 x 120 cm $14,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Toby Raine Mr. and Mrs. Misty or Mr. and Mrs. Tillman? (Father John Misty with wife) 2023 Oil on canvas 150 x 120 cm $14,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Toby Raine Matt Berninger won't f*** us over, he's Mr. November 2023 Oil on canvas 150 x 120 cm $14,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Toby Raine Jim Morrison becoming Mr. Mojo Risin as he Rises from the Grave 2023 Oil on canvas 200 x 100 cm $16,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Toby Raine I ruined the Ruen Brothers! (Ruen is conflated from Rupert and Henry) 2023 Oil on canvas 150 x 120 cm $14,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Toby Raine Heaven Can't Wait (Meatloaf becoming Michael Lee Aday again as he ascends to Heaven) 2023 Oil on canvas 150 x 120 cm $14,000.00 ENQUIRE →
Toby Raine Father John Misty with Dead Flowers, on Acid, Realising he's Josh Tillman 2023 Oil on canvas 150 x 120 cm $14,000.00 ENQUIRE →