97-year-old Auckland-based artist Alberto Garcia-Alvarez describes the Spanish term ‘duende’ as “not a being in existence; it’s in our mind.
The duende is mysterious; somehow it provokes life. Our brain is responding to it. I am the duende – it isn’t something else outside of me. The duende is something I don’t quite understand – I don’t know the answer; maybe sometimes it’s scary.
The duende lives in you and is awoken by some stimulation. It’s like a hallucination, as it’s not real; it has a presence but only one made by your brain.”
“At some specific moment, stimulated by a particular coincidence, there is a resonance awoken inside of your brain: there’s something going on.
The duende is hidden inside yourself – in some ways the duende is that thing you don’t completely understand, which exposes new things about you. So, the duende is very much a portrait of you, but not one that you know. The mirror may show you your exterior; your duende might show you more than anything else what you are like inside –
that part of you that you don’t know.”
“One can use the ‘duende’ to see / discover things about yourself which otherwise are not available.
Duende has doubts with it – it means you are not in control. We are not familiar with it and have not paid attention to it.
It’s a resonance awoken in us on being stimulated by a sight, a sound, a thought, an action….”
ALBERTO GARCIA-ALVAREZ (in conversation) November 2024
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
danūns black 2
2024
mixed media on canvas
960mm H x 770mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
AGA-1997-11
1997
mixed media on paper mounted to board
315mm H x 225mm W (frame)
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
AGA-2013-6
2013
mixed media on paper mounted to board
290mm H x 197mm W
315mm H x 225mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Why 2
2023
mixed media on canvas
970mm H x 850mm
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
mujer - p.43 ’90
1990
mixed media on paper
253mm H x 185mm W
505mm H x 450mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Untitled
1993
mixed media on paper
240mm H x 190mm W
505mm H x 450mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Untitled
1992
mixed media on canvas
950mm H x 740mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
her leg
1992
mixed media on paper
180mm H x 93mm W
375mm H x 275mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
disfancias
1992
mixed media on paper
122mm H x 162mm W
375mm H x 275mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
AGA-8 Nov ‘96
1996
mixed media on paper
185mm H x 145mm W
375mm H x 275mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2022-7
2022
oil on wood
400mm H x 170mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2022-7
2022
oil on wood
400mm H x 170mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
from light
2024
mixed media on canvas
1650mm H x 1120mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
1992-12
1992
mixed media on paper mounted to canvas (canvas gifted to the artist by Colin McCahon)
435mm H x 365mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
1992-11
1992
mixed media on paper mounted to canvas
(canvas gifted to the artist by Colin McCahon)
435mm H x 365mm W (frame)
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
1967-SAUSALITO – CALIF – 2025 - NZ
2025
mixed media on wood
720mm H x 505mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2022-AGA 107-Galileo-2015
2022
mixed media on canvas and wood
905mm H x 650mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
muñeca rota
2023
mixed media on canvas mounted to board
880mm H x 745mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
lines 7
2023
mixed media on canvas
965mm H x 705mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
2014-02
2014
mixed media on wood
460mm H x 305mm W x 30mm D
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Sausalito, CALIF
1973
mixed media on wood
220mm H x 400mm W
COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Sausalito, CALIF
1973
mixed media on wood
220mm H x 400mm W
COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Duendes
2025
Installation view
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
AGA 1967-2025 CAL-NZ
2025
mixed media on wood
550mm H x 310mm W
Alberto Garcia-Alvarez
Untitled 1
1991
mixed media on canvas
840mm H x 730mm W