John Hoby studied at Auckland University's Elam School of Fine
Art before travelling and taking up a career in secondary art
teaching to enable him to create work and pass on his knowledge to
future generations.
A gesturally expressive abstract painter, Hoby has been
influenced by international artists such as Jean Fautrier, who used
various media to further the immediacy of abstract forms on the
canvas and Hans Hofmann, long renowned as the 'teacher'
of modernism in the New York School of the 1960's and
mentor to many of the early Abstract Expressionist artists
(Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning amongst others).
Following in this vein, Hoby's painting explores the construct
of the canvas, the composition of formal elements and the use of
expressive brushstroke and palette to create works of art brimming
with emotional charge and visual immediacy.