Blue Mountains Portrait Journey
Patrick Hromas
Patrick Hromas’s practice centres on figures and environments drawn from the Blue Mountains, NSW. His oil paintings depict streetscapes and bushland scenes extending from Springwood to the Nepean River, grounding the work within a specific and recognisable geography. These landscapes situate contemporary life within a terrain shaped by memory, history, and cultural inheritance.
The human figures that populate these works are often rendered subconsciously and represent men and women of the Blue Mountains. In parallel, his works on paper explore actors drawn from his Film Still Series. Created from screenshots and edited using Photoshop Express, these surrealist pastel portraits are produced on A3 watercolour paper, both hot and cold pressed. Hromas employs soft pastels, watercolour, and coloured pencils, embracing the physical limitations of scale and surface as active elements within the composition.
The oil paintings are compositionally complex, combining historical figures or secluded swimming spots with eighteenth century Blue Mountains landmarks. Compositions are first developed using a desktop version of Photoshop and then translated into paint through a grisaille technique. A light blue violet monochrome underpainting establishes the tonal structure, followed by layered primary colours that gradually articulate the final image.
“Blue Mountains Portrait Journey”, will open alongside our other exhibitions: “It Only Hurts When I Laugh” by John Rowe, “On Show: Exploring the Light” by Canberra Art Workshop, and “Fleeced # 1 – Carnage/ La Matanza” by Fernando Pino.
Don’t miss the opening of these fantastic exhibitions on Thursday 19 March, from 6-8pm.
This event is free to attend, register your interest via the ticket link below to RSVP!
https://events.humanitix.com/new-exhibitions
Exhibitions run from Friday 20 March to Sunday 12 April
Gallery opening times: Wednesday to Sunday, 12 – 5pm.
2025. Image courtesy of the artist
For more information visit https://www.m16artspace.com.au/
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