Alan Pearson is a key figure in the history of New Zealand’s 20th and 21st century art. The artist’s work is densely complex, restlessly explorative, and remains true to the ethos of Neo-Expressionism; alive with gesture, emotion and insight.

Pearson’s training at the University of Canterbury’s School of Fine Arts (ILAM) coincided with the arrival of the Lithuanian artist and educator Rudi Gopas in 1959. This placed Pearson in context with the likes of Philip Clairmont, Tony Fomison, and Allen Maddox - a veritable blossoming of Neo-Expressionists during this period.