Riduan Tomkins (1941 - 2009) is a painter of international acclaim whose work has been exhibited throughout the world from London to Toronto. In 1984, his paintings were included in 'An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture' at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In New Zealand however, his oeuvre is often overlooked, despite the fact that he has been one of the most influential artists to come to this country in the past twenty-five years.

British born, and educated at the Royal College of Art in London, Tomkins chose to settle and teach in New Zealand between 1986 and 1997. And it was here, as Senior Lecturer in Painting at the University of Canterbury, that he became an important formative influence on a new generation of New Zealand painters.