calibre. The values, traditions and sense of history that were instilled in me at College are things I find more profound and inspiring now.” After finishing secondary school, Toby took off, spending the next few years living overseas – growing up – and working out what he wanted to do. “Moving away from my home town and family felt very liberating. I had a lot of fun. I enjoyed partying,
but eventually decided what I wanted to do with my life had to be meaningful and challenging, and contribute something to culture. By 25 you should have an idea of where you’re going and fully commit to it.” For Toby, that meant art. He returned to New Zealand and moved to Auckland to study at the Elam School of Fine Arts, graduating with a Doctor of Fine Arts in 2016.
“ The values, traditions and sense of history that were instilled in me at College are things I find more profound and inspiring now. ” Toby Raine Toby has developed a distinctive approach to painting. Taking a photograph as a starting point, he builds up layer upon layer of paint, eventually moving away from the literal image and finding ways to reinvent it. “I don’t especially consider my work to be portraits. I usually work from photographic images, but the end result is always far removed from the image used, and normally the very best paintings are particularly far removed. “There’s often a lot of physical exertion and frustration in the act. The point is not to make an accurate or interpretive representation of a person, but to deconstruct the original and create a new aesthetic. An unexpected outcome is what makes the work succeed or fail, and the best results come when I’m surprised by something I’ve done or when I’ve created something particularly unexpected.”
College Issue 38 2020
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