Provenance: Private Collection, Auckland. Purchased directly from the artist 1984

Illustrated: Inside front cover Rolling Thunder: The Spirit of Karekare Bob Harvey, Exisle, Titirangi 2001

Auckland born Binney grew up in Parnell where he took art classes with John Weeks. From 1958 - 1961 he was a student at Elam School of Fine Arts. He later became Head of Painting at Elam, teaching there for twenty four years until retirement in 1998. Binney is one of New Zealand's leading contemporary artists. He was awarded an OBE for services to the arts in 1995.

Binney describes himself as a figurative painter concerned with the psychic metaphor of the environment. Works frequently feature the west coasts of Northland and Auckland. Native birds, sea, sky and landforms reflect the artist's connection, respect and innate understanding of environment. In birdwatching, Binney says he discovered a passage into the landscape and the opportunity to develop a personal relationship with it.

Ahu Ahu Southward, Karekare Beach contains many of the visual elements that have come to be associated with Binney. The painting has been held in a private collection since 1984 and was chosen for the inside cover of the 2001 publication, Rolling Thunder: The Spirit of Karekare by Bob Harvey.