Old books and riotous colour collide as Katherine Hattam’s art makes playful statements
By John McDonald
Katherine Hattam. Lives: Thornbury, Melbourne. Age: 69. Represented by: Arthouse Gallery, Sydney; Daine Singer Gallery, Melbourne
(And Morton Fine Art, Washington, DC, USA)
Her thing. Colourful paintings incorporating collage and considerable word-play.
Our take. Katherine Hattam has spent her life in and around the Melbourne art scene. Her father, Hal Hattam, was the art world’s obstetrician of choice and a talented amateur painter. Katherine has been exhibiting regularly since the late 1980s, and lately her son, William MacKinnon, has made a name for himself as an artist.
In The Landscape of Language, Hattam’s third solo exhibition at Arthouse, she continues to use old paperbacks as collage in her larger paintings. The book titles invite us to look for meanings that may or may not exist, beyond whatever memories they conjure up in the artist’s mind. Hattam favours old Penguins that would have disintegrated by now anyway.
In terms of colour, and the riotous Australiana that runs through these canvases, this is one of her boldest outings. Hattam’s swans may be black but her kangaroos can be bright blue or pink.
Her subjects range from domestic still lifes to allegorical landscapes. On the way, she pauses to consider the attempts by the First Fleet’s William Dawes to learn the Eora language; environmental issues (symbolised by Hokusai’s menacing wave); and a favourite picture by American master Philip Guston.
In a painting called Pantheon (1973), Guston wrote a list of the artists he most revered. Hattam has undertaken a feminist revision, replacing Guston’s all-male list with a female cast. As statements go, it’s more playful than strident.
Can I afford it? For a well-established artist, Hattam’s prices are very affordable. The most expensive picture in this exhibition is the oil painting, The black swan of trespass (pictured above, 217cm x 155cm), at $17,500. This would equal her existing record price. There are 12 works selling for the low price of $2200. This includes small oil paintings such as Pink kangaroo, Swans dream phthalo, and The friendship garden (each 43cm x 31cm).
Where can I have a squiz? Arthouse Gallery, 66 McLachlan Avenue, Rushcutters Bay, Sydney,
until March 28; arthousegallery.com.au.
AND stateside at Morton Fine Art, 52 O St NW #302, Washington, DC USA.
Morton Fine Art: curator's notes 