Rohan lives in the Otways up behind Lorne, no surprise in that looking at these works. Only someone who has travelled the Great Ocean Road a thousand times can paint landscapes about it like these. His curvilinear tangles of roads encircling forested hills, seem to echo the female form, a little like a Whiteley. Also the oil on board Nolan and a touch of Olsen. This locates him in the grand tradition of Australian landscape painting. As well as horizon lines, which indicate a particular viewpoint, Rohan has spliced other perspectives into his work in particular the aerial view. This view also acknowledges his debt to Aboriginal painting (Nu-Dot). Striations and strata of colour also reference indigenous art. Our beautiful coastal landscapes which may seem unpopulated in Rohan's work, are changing forever. Sea-Changers and Tree-Changers and Money-Changers have moved in. Rohan acknow-
edges this in his painting "Another Golf Course" .
Thanks David H. Thomas for the words. |
