Right from early childhood Riki exhibited an unusual talent for his age in the areas of sport and art.  Riki won his first local art competition at the age of 8 and his first national recognition with a third place for his age group (13 years) in a country wide competition during the celebration of The Year of Te Reo Maori.

Riki has always felt an affinity with his Maori heritage.  Riki studied at Toihoukura, a Maori Art School which is held in the highest esteem both nationally and internationally, predominantly under the guidance of five of New Zealand’s most highly acclaimed contemporary Maori artists, Sandy Ad sett, Derek Lardelli, Paerau Corneal and Steve Gibbs.  The two years spent at Toihoukura saw Riki mature as a contemporary Maori Artist in his own right. 

He participated in many national exhibitions and was commissioned by the Gisbourne City Council to produce two citizenship award trophies. Riki also was asked by the Gisbourne City Council to submit concept designs for their ‘Sculpture in the Park’ project.

He continues to exhibit both nationally an internationally and his works can now be found in New Zealand Government buildings as well as private collections.

Commission pieces have made up a large part of Riki’s work over the past couple of years, with him undertaking projects both individually and in a group situation. Riki was part of a select group of New Zealand artist who travelled and exhibited at the New Zealand Trade Building in Vancouver, Canada.

In his artworks Riki has developed some very strong individual styles.  Each finished work tells its own story and will often incorporate different media, including metallic paints, native New Zealand timbers, Perspex, metals, New Zealand paua shell and other natural elements.  The areas Riki predominantly works in are painting (acrylic on board and canvas), relief mixed media and 3 dimensional sculptures.

Click here to view Riki's artworks.