Meet our Staff

Edward Hanfling

Academic Staff Member
Theory Tutor

Personal Statement

I have taught history and theory of art and design at several tertiary institutions, including the University of Auckland from 1999–2001 and 2004–2007, and Whanganui Polytechnic/Whanganui UCOL from 2002–2003. In 2005 I graduated with a PhD from the University of Auckland. My doctoral thesis reflected my interest in the ways in which artworks are ‘used’ and evaluated by different audiences.

Modernist and contemporary art has been the main focus of my research, as well as overlaps between painting, design and architecture. I have published books and catalogues on the New Zealand artists Ian Scott and Milan Mrkusich, including a major monograph on Mrkusich co-written with Alan Wright and published by Auckland University Press in 2009. Curatorial projects have included Vuletic and his Circle (Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, and Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui, 2003), TransForm: The Abstract Art of Milan Mrkusich (Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland, 2009, and City Gallery, Wellington, 2010) and the Roy Good retrospective, In Good Form (Lopdell House Gallery, 2007).

I am a regular contributor to the quarterly journal Art New Zealand, and have published in the Journal of New Zealand Art History and the Australian Artlink journal. My article on the American artist Morris Louis was published in the December 2009 issue of the Burlington Magazine.