PROVENANCE Purchased from Barry Lett Galleries, 1969 Private Collection, Canada Purchased from Webb's, March 2012 by current owner Private Collection, Auckland

Mexico D.F. could easily be construed as a portrait of small-town Mexico: there are several bright but unimposing buildings set against an impressive landmass, which has been softly and subtly graded. The buildings look as if they have been pasted there. They are bright and flat, and each shape contrasts greatly with the hill behind it. The message from Binney is loud and clear: they don't belong here. Their presence is at best incongruous.

"D.F.", Distrito Federal, tells us that this is actually a portrait of densely populated Mexico City. The tiny turquoise building with the Jarritos logo is an enormously successful Mexican soft drink corporation, and the dark green building on the far right represents PRI, Mexico's ruling party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional). Here, human consumption and our impact upon the land has been filtered through Binney's minimalist lens, and he is at the peak of artistic self-definition and assurance.

Mexico D.F. was painted when Binney travelled to Mexico on the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council travel fellowship which he received in 1967. This journey also took him and his wife Judith through Central America and Europe. It's worth considering the creative influence this fellowship would have exerted on an artist such as Binney.

Even at this relatively early stage in his career, Binney's artistic identity was inextricably tied to the land of his birth. His paintings comprised a visual language of institutional resistance. He spoke openly of his reluctance to align himself to international art movements, and pushed back against the idea that New Zealand art should function as a single unified national output.

What then, did this funded overseas trip (with the expectation of artistic output and evolution) inspire in him? According to this painting, it inspired transferability, and the cementing of his artistic principles. Mexico D.F. beautifully expresses Binney's singularity of vision. In the context of an unfamiliar country, he persisted in interpreting the land within his own parameters - not as a painter blind to Mexico's uniqueness, but rather as one who was unwilling to compromise.