Mark Forman

In a career spanning three decades, Tony Fomison (1939–1990) produced some of New Zealand’s most artistically and culturally significant paintings and drawings, the backdrop of which was a life – inseparable from his art – of enduring intrigue.

A man of multitudes and a self-perceived outsider, Fomison was a son, sibling and lover; activist, archaeologist and scholar; trickster, addict and disrupter; and – above all else – an artist who shed light on the human condition and reimagined life in Aotearoa.

In this compelling biography, developed over more than a decade, Mark Forman draws on archival material and interviews with more than 150 people including Fomison’s family and close friends, leading contemporary artists, political activists, and art professionals. The result is a comprehensive yet lively and accessible biography that reveals the man and his art to a new generation of readers.