Charcoal drawings can be found on limestone rock shelters in the centre of the South Island, with over 500 sites in the South Island stretching from Kaikōura to North Otago including at the Takiroa Rock Art Shelter. The drawings are estimated to be between 500 and 800 years old, and portray animals, humans and legendary creatures, possibly stylised reptiles. Some of the birds pictured are extinct, including moa and Haast's eagles. They were drawn by Māori, but the meanings of the art is unknown. The ink they were drawn with was recorded in the 1920s and included resin and gum from tree's including tarata, and either shark liver oil or weka fat. There are preservation and restoration efforts being made including at 14 limestone caves and overhangs at Ōpihi in South Canterbury. Rock art is also found in the North Island with 140 rock art sites listed with the New Zealand Archaeological Association. Perry Fletchern, historical research consultant expects there believes there are more sites un-discovered on farm land. In general the difference between rock art is that in the North Island there are more carvings and abstract motifs the South Island has more drawings and more figurative forms.

Māori visual art consists primarily of four forms: carving (whakairo), tattooing (tā moko), weaving (raranga), and painting (kōwhaiwhai). It was rare for any of these to be purely decorative; traditional Māori art was highly spiritual and as an oral society conveyed knowledge or mātauranga including spiritual matters and ancestry. An example is invoking a god or atua by using a specific design on an object can make the item more effective due to the Māori world-view of natural and spiritual worlds being closely connected. Māori art is connected to the art of Moana Oceania Indigenous groups, the peoples of the wider Pacific region. Common across Moana Oceania were whare wānanga, creative hubs of knowledge systems for training specialists (tohunga) including arts specialists. Artistic skills were valued by Māori and leaders were expected to exhibit skills in the arts.

The creation of art was governed by the rules of tapu. Styles varied from region to region: the style now sometimes seen as 'typical' in fact originates from Te Arawa, who maintained a strong continuity in their artistic traditions thanks partly to early engagement with the tourist industry. Most traditional Māori art was highly stylised and featured motifs such as the spiral, the chevron and the koru.

The first university Māori art history course was taught in 1988 by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku at the University of Auckland. Hirini Moko and Apirana Mahuika have articulated that Māori have for many generations had traditions of art history talking about 'art, its origins, and influences'.
Carving was done in three media: wood, bone, and stone. As an oral peoples, for Māori carving recorded genealogy, documented events and preserved traditions and stories. Examples of carved items include buildings, weapons including taiaha, musical instruments (taonga pūoro), special containers (waka huia), boats (waka) and ceremonial staffs used by orators (tokotoko).

Pounamu (greenstone), a form of jade was carved and treasured and other kinds of stone were also used, especially in the North Island. Both stone and bone were used to create jewellery such as the hei-tiki. Large scale stone face carvings were also sometimes created. The introduction of metal tools by Europeans changed some carving styles.

There are many well-known carvers who were men but women also carved. In the early 21st century, Pania Waaka is believed to be the first woman to earn a qualification in Māori carving.
Tā moko is the art of traditional Māori tattooing, done with a chisel. Men were tattooed on many parts of their bodies, including faces, buttocks and thighs. Women were usually tattooed only on the lips and chin. Moko conveyed a person's ancestry. The art declined in the 19th century following the introduction of Christianity, but in recent decades has undergone a revival. Although modern moko are in traditional styles, most are carried out using modern equipment. Body parts such as the arms, legs and back are popular locations for modern moko, although some are still on the face.
Weaving was used to create numerous things, including wall panels in meeting houses and other important buildings, as well as clothing and bags (kete). While many of these were purely functional, others were true works of art taking hun…

Read more on Wikipedia

Europeans began producing art in New Zealand as soon as they arrived, with many exploration ships including an artist to record newly discovered places, people, flora and fauna. The first European work of art made in New Zealand was a drawing by Isaac Gilsemans, the artist on Abel Tasman's expedition of 1642.

Joseph Banks and Sydney Parkinson of James Cook's ship Endeavour produced the first detailed depictions of Māori people, New Zealand landscapes, and indigenous flora and fauna in 1769. William Hodges was the artist on HMS Resolution in 1773, and John Webber on HMS Resolution in 1777. Their works captured the imagination of Europeans and were an influence in the 19th century movement of art towards naturalism.

Cook's artists' paintings and descriptions of moko sparked an interest in the subject in Europe, and led to the tattoo becoming a tradition of the British Navy.