Remembering Paul Hartigan (1953 - 2026)

Born in New Plymouth in 1953, Hartigan emerged from the earliest days of the Govett-Brwester, working with many of the institution’s founding thinkers to forge a distinct and international approach that brought together drawing, language, light and the visual energy of the city. His most significant contribution was in the transformation of neon from the familiar language of commercial signage into something expressive, restless and unmistakably his own. 

His relationship with the Govett-Brewster was also a personal one. Among the stories remembered from his time around the Gallery is Hartigan restoring a motorbike with Don Driver in the dockway, an image that captures something of the particular history of this place: artists spending time here, making things, exchanging ideas and becoming part of the life of the Gallery and the fabric of the city.

Hartigan's most visible contribution to the Gallery was Pathfinder. Created for the Gallery's 1997 extension, the neon installation stretched across its exterior walls, its freely drawn forms inspired by the immediacy and vitality of Len Lye's gestural drawings. At the time the glowing lines were described as a "beacon announcing the presence of the Gallery". 

From 1997 until 2013, Pathfinder did exactly that. It illuminated the Gallery's architecture and announced, quite literally, that something different was happening here. There is something particularly fitting in remembering Hartigan through Pathfinder. His work showed us the way – connecting art to the street, the building to the city, and the Govett-Brewster to the wider world.

We remember Paul Hartigan not only for the distinctive contribution he made to contemporary art in Aotearoa, but as part of the extended community of artists who have shaped the Govett-Brewster across generations.

Our thoughts are with his whānau, friends, fellow artists and all those who knew and worked alongside him. His light was part of this place, and we are proud that it was.