Louise Hearman's distinctly cinematic paintings and drawings take on a dreamlike quality as they combine everyday imagery with dark and surrealistic impressions, creating an otherworldly atmosphere. Throughout her 25-year career, Hearman's works have remained nameless, choosing to let her audience attempt to decipher or give their own meanings to the scenes she puts forth. They've repeatedly returned to familiar settings such as the suburbs of Melbourne and the regional countryside, alongside more hallucinatory images of isolated stretches of road, the back of an anonymous heads and the illuminated face of a child floating in the sea.
Mostly creating her works with oils on Masonite, Hearman produces her supernatural images on a relatively small-scale. Shown at the stunning TarraWarra Museum of Art in the picturesque surrounds of Healesville and the Yarra Valley, this is the first major review of Hearman's vast collection of works and runs until May 14.
Image: Louise Hearman, Untitled #1118 (2005), oil on composition board.