Okato painter Alby Carter, works in the expressionist style reminiscent of Toss Woollaston.

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.

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’. He states, “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”.

Alby Carter’s paintings will be on display in the gallery of the Mokau Museum from the 26th January until the 1st of March. Entry by donation.