Ronnie van Hout

• Name — Ronnie van Hout • Born — 22 February 1962 • Birthplace — Christchurch • Education — School of Fine Arts, Canterbury University, 1980 - 1982, Master of Fine Arts, RMIT University of Melbourne, 1999 • Known for — Sculpture, video and installations

Born in Christchurch on 22 February 1962, Van Hout attended the Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury between 1980 and 1982, where he majored in film. In 1999, he gained a Master of Fine Arts from RMIT University, Melbourne.

In the early eighties while still studying at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, van Hout became involved in the Christchurch music scene. Initially he worked with The Pin Group, who were signed to Flying Nun Records, designing posters and filming them in action. Roger Shepherd, owner of Flying Nun, described van Hout’s work as, ‘colorful Warholian images’. He later described van Hout's cover for The Pin Group’s debut single "Ambivalence" as, ‘black on black and depicted an image of helicopters. An allusion to US “black ops” with clandestine undercover secret operations that were real when they were not conspiracy theories.' Van Hout also produced printed material for other Flying Nun bands.

From 1988 Van Hout was also a member of the band Into the Void. Band member Paul Sutherland recalled, ‘Ronnie was just part of the scene, and so he just turned up, but it was pretty obvious he couldn’t play an instrument, so he became a singer and we were a band.’ Into the Void would also sign with Flying Nun Records and still reunites occasionally, playing together as recently as 2016.

• Illustration — Ronnie van Hout in his Auckland studio, 1998 Van Hout has exhibited extensively, in Australia, New Zealand and internationally, at private and public galleries. His first solo exhibition was More for Less at City Limits café in Wellington and he was also included in the influential exhibition Hangover curated by Lara Strongman for the Waikato Museum and Art Gallery (now known as Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato) in 1993. He showed with the Auckland group Teststrip, as well as Gregory Flint Gallery, Hamish McKay Gallery, Gow Langsford Gallery, Ivan Anthony Gallery as well as Station and Darren Knight Gallery in Australia. 1994 Elvis in Geyserland, Rotorua Public Art Gallery. 1995 Skin Problems Teststrip Gallery, Auckland. 1996 I’m OK. Govett-Brewster Art Gallery with a catalogue essay by John Hurrell. Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Manawatu Art Gallery (now known as Te Manawa). Reviewer Robin Neate commented of the exhibition that van Hout, ‘…conjured up as many meanings as you can bring to a work.’ 2003 I’ve Abandoned Me. This survey exhibition curated by Justin Paton at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery toured in 2003 and 2004 to Auckland, Wellington and Palmerston North. Paton described van Hout’s career as, ‘[jutting] up on the horizon like a combined laboratory, hall of mirrors and haunted house.’ 2008 BED/SIT Artspace, Sydney. The gallery's brochure comments, 'The "furniture" represented in BED/SIT is fake furniture. It is also more than fake - it is double fake. What could be perceived as a representation of simple furniture is also a superficial copy of an artwork by American artist Robert Morris.' 2009 Who Goes There? Curated by Justin Paton at the Christchurch Art Gallery it featured the work The Thing inspired by van Hout’s experience in the Antarctic. 2010 Uncured. Ronnie van Hout at the Institute of Modern Art (IMA) in Brisbane. The gallery's brochure comments, ‘His tragicomic works mash up Sartre and Beckett with The Two Ronnies and The Nutty Professor.’ 2012 Ronnie van Hout: I've Seen Things, The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt. The exhibition coincided with the installation of van Hout’s sculpture Fallen Robot in the courtyard outside the gallery.

• Howard Menger "Signwriter" 1986 view view • That was Perfect 1989 view • Untitled (Male Rock/Pop Singer) 1993 view • Untitled 1995 view • Undead (Green Version) 1995 view • Help Me I’m in the Land of Giants 1996 view • Psycho 1999 view • House and School 2001 view • Sick Chimp 2002 view • End Doll 2007 view

Anthony Byrt Who's There: Ronnie van Hout and the Anti-Hero Aesthetic. Blair French Model Images: The Recent Photography of Ronnie van Hout 1990. John Hurrell, Review of Who Goes There, EyeContact, 27 September 2009 John Hurrell, Review of The Other Mother, EyeContact, 28 June 2011 Tom Cardy, Van Hout's latest hits the Dowse, The DominionPost, 12 July 2012 Robert Leonard, Unnerved: The New Zealand Project, Eyeline, no. 73, 2011 Harriet Litten’s MA Thesis Antarctic influences on artists. (Harriet Litten Master thesis Imagining Antarctica: Responses from Contemporary Artists. The King of Comedy: The Cinema, Cezanne, Nazis and Sausages. Robin Neate talks to Ronnie van Hout 1994.

Into the Void playing Black Window. The Elvis Presley Movie (1981) and Ghosting (2020). Two Ronnie van Hout video works. Sitting Figure 2016.Ronnie van Hout discussing a work in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia. Artist Voice: Ronnie van Hout. Van Hout interviews himself. Introduced by Lara Strongaman for the MCA, Sydney. Boy Walking.

Ronnie van Hout is recorded with the occupation photographer. Established in Library of Congress under no2023085386. Recorded as painter, photographer and sculptor. Established in RKDartists under 413894. Recognition and collections.

Van Hout's work is held in many public collections including the Auckland Art Gallery, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Christchurch Art Gallery and the Public Art Gallery.