Born in 1952, at Akaroa on Banks Peninsula, Richard McWhannell completed a Diploma of Fine Arts at the School of Fine Arts, University of Canterbury in 1972. Six years later he moved north, and began painting the urban landscape of Auckland. At first these were cool images of rectilinear buildings, and mostly devoid of human presence. Shortly, McWhannell began to populate his deserted landscapes and, at the same time, moved from regionalism to paintings of the imagination.

The mid-1990s saw a number of self-portraits and figures in elegant staged settings. His subjects are personal, distinguished by cool tones and distinctive perspectives. Humour is a regular component of McWhannell’s work, as is his study of human inadequacies. These include vulnerable nudes, and nameless genderless figures isolated in a minimal environment. The artists aim is to “represent concentrated experience” and “to relate certain simple urges of an innocent (almost) humanity with humour, and free from moral speculation”.