Alby Carter was born in Wellington in 1949 and moved to Taranaki in 1982. He has been in Okato since 2000 working from a converted garage that is now his studio and workshop and works in the expressionist style reminiscent of Toss Woollaston.

Inspired by his surroundings of mountain, sea, farm and forest, Alby captures the mood of his environment in his fast-brushed style. Reality is merely his starting point with the aim to make his landscapes ‘painterly’. 

‘If you paint reality perfectly, you aren’t doing the artist’s job because the art has to tell you something about what the artist feels about what they are painting.’

Alby describes his state of mind when painting as, ‘a blank. It’s more about feeling it than thinking it.’

When he was younger he would take his gear out on location. Now he takes photos and paints in his studio in Okato.

‘I’ve developed a way to make it look different than a photo, otherwise you may as well take a photo – the thing has to go through the artist.’

Apart from the occasional odd jobs, Carter has been a professional artist for 50 years.

‘It’s hard to be full time in New Zealand unless the artist gets picked up by a major gallery in Auckland or Wellington or Christchurch, 

‘But then you get trapped, because they tell you what to paint and I don’t like that idea. Just going at it like I do – it is quite hard to survive.’’