In an interview with Leonhard Emmerling before his 2009 St Paul St Gallery exhibition, Alberto Garcia-Alvarez described his visual needs as being “… what my eyes need to see in form, tone and colour in order to compensate; to create my harmony. Each one of us has an accumulation of visual experiences: studies of the human figure, composition and use of colour; light … I need to see things in a particular relation, order or disorder, in a particular mood of light, blacks and ochre. A happy white, a dramatic mess of incoherent gestures. Sadness or indifference.”
Born in Barcelona in 1928, Garcia-Alvarez moved to California in 1960 and then to Auckland where he taught at Elam for twenty years. He had an enormous influence on a generation of New Zealand artists, several of whom are now household names.
Garcia-Alvarez has dedicated his life to the daily practice of painting. This year, at the age of ninety – noranta in Catalan – he presents a new suite of 3 large paintings on canvas alongside a series of works on board and canvas from as early as the 1970s.
Garcia-Alvarez’ work is held in collections including Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, James Wallace Arts Trust, The Fletcher Trust Collection, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery and The Chartwell Collection. He has exhibited throughout Europe and North America, most recently at the Fundacio Vila Casas in Barcelona in 2017.
Photography: Kallan MacLeod
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Noranta
December 2018
Installation View
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Noranta
December 2018
Installation View
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2017-218
2017
water-based mixed media on canvas
2510mm H x 2050mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2018-115
2018
water-based mixed media on canvas
2500mm H x 1950mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2016-261 (Hector of Troy)
2016
mixed media and aluminium on board
430mm H x 340mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Aidoneus Bed (triptych)
1977
mixed media on canvas gifted by Colin McCahon
900mm H x 675mm W (each)
installation dimensions variable
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2018-116
2018
water-based mixed media on canvas
2100mm H x 1730mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
1995-24
1995
mixed media on paper
745mm H x 600mm W (frame)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
1995-22
1995
mixed media on paper
745mm H x 605mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2014-100 (bay of spirits)
2014
mixed media on board
470mm H x 370mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2016-266
2016
mixed media on canvas gifted by Colin McCahon
365mm H x 365mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2016 (SOL)
2016
mixed media on canvas
745mm H x 540mm W (frame)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2016-301 (Intense Desire)
2016
mixed media on board
470mm H x 345mm W (frame)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2016-81 (Toda ciencia transcendiendo)
2016
mixed media on board
470mm H x 310mm W (frame)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
317
2000
oil and acrylic on linen
1215mm H x 1100mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2016-59 (Blanes)
2016
mixed media on board
745mm H x 540mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2018-70
2018
mixed media on canvas
840mm H x 730mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2018-123
2018
mixed media on paper
820mm H x 720mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2018-71
2018
mixed media on canvas
875mm H x 730mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Noranta
December 2018
Installation View
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Noranta
December 2018
Gallery Office Installation View
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Noranta
December 2018
Installation View
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Noranta
December 2018
Installation View
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Noranta
December 2018
Installation View