Tom Kreisler was born in Argentina in 1938, to a Jewish family who had left Barcelona to escape the Spanish civil war, coming to Buenos Aires by way of Vienna in 1936-37. Soon after the sudden death of his father, and in light of his rebellious and truant behaviour, he was presented with two options by his mother: work in his uncle’s millinery factory, or spend a period of time with his Aunt Edith and Uncle George in Christchurch, New Zealand. He leapt at the later opportunity and so when he was 13, he boarded a ship alone that would take him to these distant shores where he would spend much of his life.
Over the course of subsequent years, Kreisler was consistently reminded of his foreignness in this new land, but it was through his art practice that he was able to ruminate on this unique position and provide a socially, politically, and culturally dense body of work that resonates to this day. It is a testament to this artist’s prescience that his work has continued to grow in stature in more recent years, more than two decades after this artist’s passing.
Within his lifetime and since, Kreisler’s work has been exhibited widely throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as select exhibitions in Australia, Mexico, and the United States. His work is represented in important public collections across Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, including The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Chartwell Collection/Auckland Art Gallery, Christchurch Art Gallery, Sarjeant Gallery, Waikato Museum, Rotorua Museum and The Art Gallery of New South Wales.