Fashion, art, sex, death and cigarettes. There’s always a bit of rock’n’roll when Heather Straka hits town! The surprise here though, is Straka’s presentation of photographs as opposed to paintings. Assisted by a renowned fashion team – stylist, photographer & lighting expert – Straka has produced an exhibition of large format photographs which noticeably echo her distinctive painterly practice. Photography …

The Asian is the first major solo exhibition by Heather Straka in New Zealand.  This installation is comprised of an original painting by Straka and 59 copies produced by 59 Chinese artisans working from the Dafen Oil Painting Village in the Longgang District of Shenzhen. Straka is an artist who has built a reputation over the last decade for her …

  The great Ngati Maniapoto chief, Rewi Maniapoto, was painted by Gottfried Lindauer in 1882. Come the new millennium, Heather Straka re-works the painting. The huia feathers of the rangatira have their white tips within and without the gold rim of a clear halo. His prized kuri skin cloak is topped now with a fox; while a flaming heart burns …

What a riff on portraiture! Within art history, Giotto was the traditional champion of the backview, but with these bodies of work, Heather Straka lays claim to the back of the head, back of the neck and the upper back as her currency in contemporary New Zealand painting. The Honeytrap is a new body of work; Somebodies Eyes is the …

The strength of the female gaze is celebrated in Heather Straka’s new exhibition entitled Donor. Amanda, an Auckland model, is the principal donor here, having posed for Ms Straka in bust views ranging from profile and three-quarter, to the front on. And a serious full frontal it is too. But who is looking at whom in these portraits? And just …

Blood Lust is the title Heather Straka has given to a series of photographs she made in the first half of 2012, during her residency as William Hodges Fellow in Invercargill… Take six male models (from a local rugby team and gym) and a stylist – for consistency of hair, make-up and dress. Gather many carefully chosen props. And assemble …