Mike Morgan is an iconic Waiheke artist who creates vibrant paintings of immense detail which frequently comment on local activities people, personalities and events.

Best described as naive surrealism, Mike Morgan's bright works always have a humorous or satirical twist. A legend in New Zealand, Mike exhibits in New York and buyers from around the world have beat a path to his studio door over the past few years.

His paintings also hang on the walls of such luminaries as the band U2 who bought all five of the remaining works at an exhibition and commissioned another.

Mike started painting in the seventies, producing about ten paintings in that decade. In the eighties it was much the same until Mike left his job as a steel worker in 1989 then he was able to spend more time painting. But it was not until he moved to Waiheke Island in Aucklands Hauraki Gulf in 1991 that he started to paint full-time. Since then he has completed about 700 paintings...sometimes painting for up to 14 hours at a time, less in Summer than in Winter.

Clearly a man with that prodigious outpouring of creative works must have a reclusive temperament, but no, this humble man who claims his talent fluctuates and who lives alone, close to the natural world and in tune with the seasons, also likes to leer up in the city on a Friday night, visit friends and have a few drinks. His personality is expressed by his distinctive dress, long white beard, lack of footwear and his immaculate hot rod car - its paintwork another work of art.

A truly unique kiwi artist with a world-wide following.