Veronica O’ Hehir

The Abstracted Realist  New works by Veronica O’Hehir

At times I interpret the notion of what is, although intuitively paint what isn’t.

In this series traversing the land, particularly the historical landscape of the Stony Rise volcanic district in Victoria, the Great Ocean Road coastline and regular visits to Tasmania, have all been influential in the outcome. Vast horizons, changing skies, silhouetted trees and vegetation littered across that beautiful space between the intersection of land meeting the horizon line and then the sky. This space fascinates me – the end and the beginning concurrently.

Using an instinctive colour palette, my work evolves from an organic mark making, layering and editing process. Millisecond decisions are made as to what stays and goes during the painting process.

Each painting develops as my mind extracts from stored memory, visuals, imaginings and the deep subconscious. I allow for the work to surface, diving into an innate visual language. It has always been there, a natural ability to express myself in such a unique experience. No painting, brush stroke or colour is ever the same – every element of the work is original to my mark alone. Art is the closest understanding of my individual existence and relationship to environment and human experiences, expressed through this medium of painting .

References to nature occur with gestural brush strokes, using line and colour sporadically. My mind settles on some loose, more realistic finer detail in areas before flowing effortlessly back into the abstract. At times humans walking the land and interacting in nature appear. Often I’m pushing the bounds of realism and the abstract. An underlying narrative exists for the viewer to decipher as they see the interaction of nature and humans.

The works are open to the viewer’s interpretation and findings once they leave the studio and grace the gallery walls. This challenge and exchange between the human and the painting is exciting to me as they are seeing something for the first time, connecting in some way & evoking a thought process of their own…or not.