Sculptor Leigh Christensen was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1959. He lives and works in Auckland. He has a post-graduate diploma in fine arts from Elam Art School (Te Hoi Hau multi-disciplinary dept) Auckland University, 1997. Leigh studied traditional carving with northern Maori master carver Alan Nopera during the early eighties.
“His skills as a carver are some of the finest I have seen and he possesses a rare understanding of traditional skills and techniques. Over the years, his extensive exploration of wood carving/sculpture as a medium, has led him away from the traditional Polynesian motifs prevalent in his early work, through a fusion of the Maori and European ideas with integrated machine parts with totem-like timber carvings. In his seemingly endless quest for complexity, he has explored the realms of mathematical theory including the Mandelbrot’s fractal geometry, and Charles Babbage’s Victorian ‘ computer-age’.”
Jennifer Buckley Director Oedipus Rex Gallery Auckland
New Zealand sculptor, Leigh Christensen, successfully fuses Maori and European carving traditions. His sculptures are known for their creative wit and technical skill. 
