Summary
The paintings of Louise Hearman often straddle worlds. Her figurative works reflect the physical world we inhabit, and yet her use of strong colour with areas of dense black and intense light and her clever compositions together convey an otherworldliness, or a presence that exists just beyond the pictorial space. These elements lend theatricality and intensity to her work, setting the mind of the viewer to imagining the subtextual narratives that structure her works. Arguably, the absence of definitive titles for her paintings invites just this meditation.
Take ‘Untitled #1080’, for example, which came into the collection in 2008. The ubiquitous suburban street scene, with tended nature strips and shady street trees under a blue sky, creates a peculiarly Australian vision of suburban calmness and contentment. Yet the blackened trunk of a sapling cleaves through the centre of this benign residential scene, its menacing presence signalling the complex family dynamics and psychological dramas that exist behind the facade of such apparent suburban idylls.
