Alvin Pankhurst Gallery

General information

Welcome to the paintings of Alvin Pankhurst. If you have just found us "Welcome". Alvin's work is collected worldwide. We have two successful galleries in Parnell, Auckland and in Pauanui. We opened the Parnell gallery ten years ago. Typical of the artists gallery it is off the main road (Parnell Road) and down some steps (from the Coffee Club). People from New Zealand and around the world visit us here and see Alvin's latest work and some of his older work. They also buy high quality hand signed giclee prints. Alvin and his son Matthew are in the gallery one day a week in the winter. It is run by his wife Ephra.
Alvin has been a full time artist since 1969 starting with the 1970 Young Contemporaries Touring Exhibition and the 1970 National Benson and Hedges Art Award. Alvin won the 1974 Benson and Hedges Art Award and his painting was bought by the Dunedin Art Gallery for a New Zealand record price. This price record was broken 11 years later. Alvin's early painting was very surreal and showed the passing of time with roots growing from flowers in his Victorian interiors.
Alvin married Ephra in 1975 and during their overseas adventures all anyone knew about art in New Zealand was the Maori. Their beautiful carvings, wakas, marae, weaving, songs! And of course the mokos/tattoos and hakas. In 1990 Alvin started a series about the early European settlers' hazardous journey to New Zealand. Over 150 ships were wrecked, most people were saved, but there must have been a lot of furniture etc washed up on the shore. The furniture and crockery made beautiful paintings. Alvin was always reading and hearing stories about amazing maori treasures being exposed by coastal erosion or the draining of wetlands or coastal building excavations.
The maori hid their carvings in caves and sea caves when they were going on raiding parties. They also sunk their war wakas under threat of attack.
All of Alvin's carvings of the great maori warriors and chiefs and of war wakas, fishing wakas and mythological characters have been carved by great maori carvers over the last three to four centuries. It is a record for New Zealand of the carvings and the land.
Alvin's maori inspired paintings have found international admirers and are in many important collections.