Born in Auckland in 1942, Buck Nin Ngati Ruakawa, Ngati Toa taught art at Hamilton College for more than twenty years. He graduated from the University of Canterbury in 1965, later gaining a Masters in Education from the University of Hawaii, then a Doctorate in Fine Arts from Texas Technical University.

In the 1970s he tirelessly campaigned to raise the profile of Maori art. Dr Buck Nin's work was inspired by both his Maori and Chinese ancestry. His work is in the collections of University of Hawaii, Te Papa, The New Dowse, Manawatu Art Gallery, COCA, Aigantighe Art Museum, Rotorua Museum of Art and History and Waikato Museum of Art and History.

"Buck Nin became a major force in the contemporary Maori art movement with his strongly individual style of painting, his teaching, and his willingness to work with people from all walks of life. Buck was a larger than life person not only because of his physical size but also because of his considerable intellect, his energy, his powerful and often large paintings, and his commitment to the development of art and its people. The imagery in the work of Buck Nin is drawn from Maori carving, weaving and rafter patterns, spread across a minimalist landscape, like a sacred cloak, warming, embracing and caressing the earth. This is his Maori earth Papatuanuku. History will show him as one of Maoridom's and subsequently New Zealand's great contemporary artists." Darcy Nicholas

Buck Nin along with Ralph Hotere, Selwyn Muru and Sandy Adsett were four of our major senior Contemporary Maori painters. Contemporary Maori sculptors like Arnold Wilson, Fred Graham, Cliff Whiting and Para Matchett were already a major part of the emerging contemporary Maori art movement in the late 50's. Together these six artists formed the dynamics of a contemporary Maori art movement that has expanded across the globe. Nin floated the imagery of Maori carvings across the land claiming spiritual ownership. When he died Maoridom lost one of its greatest sons.