1st design for The Roycroft Trophy Poster 2010 oil on linen 460 x 550mm $7,500
At the Races
12 March - 2 April
In this exhibition, Richard McWhannell welds together two great loves of his life: painting and racing. McWhannell became a racing Boffin at fifteen, when be bought his first race car, a 1931 Saloon style, Austin 7. He sold the car when he took up a place at Ilam, Canterbury School of Fine Arts, but he never gave up the dream.
In 2003, McWhannell, now an established Auckland based artist, bought a 1929 A7 special and established friendships that led him to the racing circuit, and Hampton Downs.
Motor racing was a popular sport in Auckland , in the twenties and thirties and, for three generations, the Roycroft family have been a key part of that racing scene. In this collection, the Race Paintings celebrate the Roycroft Trophy, acknowledging the history and the rural glamour of those early races.
Painting for a poster for Hampton Downs event 2011 oil on linen 540 x 650mm $4,500
The Roycroft Trophy 2011 oil on linen 730 x 600mm $8,500
Calendar Girls
Racing cars have long been synonymous with glamorous women, made famous/infamous by the Pirelli Calendars of the mid-1960s. With a wink and nod to the centre-creased enthusiasms of the discerning gentleman/gentlewoman) McWhannell, primarily the car enthusiast, has combined images of vintage race/sports cars and period pinup girls. The pinups are a mixture, paraphrasing American pinup artist Gil Elvgren, and invention inspired by the era.Marilyn Monroe is evoked more than once.
Babs 2011 oil on linen 225 x 275mm $2,600
Six of the twelve Calendar Girl paintings. All 225 x 275mm oil on linen All $2,600 each
The 2nd Design for Hampton Downs racing poster 2011 oil on linen 540 x 650mm $7,500
Design for a poster for Hampton Downs event 2011 oil on linen 540 x 650mm $7,500
Wine Food Race oil on linen 225 x 275mm $2,600
Richard McWhannell is one of New Zealand’s foremost artists, his highly imaginative works have spanned portraiture, landscape, travel and the interior workings of a mind given free rein to wander at will. This exhibition is testament to the power of a passion started when he was just a lad, and given that first taste of the wind blowing through his youthful hair, and continues today, undiminished, even if the wind now blows across a sensibly leather-clad pate.
The above images represent a selection of the works in this unique series. Please contact us for further images, details and information.
A catalogue illustrating the complete collection is available from the Gallery upon request, or click below to view or download this catalogue.
