Ep 59: Melinda Harper

Melinda Harper is one of Australia’s leading abstract artists. Her works, filled with geometric forms and often with an explosion of colour, have been fascinating art lovers for over 30 years.

Whether its hundreds of rectangles crammed onto the canvas or wavy forms filled with psychedelic stripes, your eye is going to be subjected to a feast of colour and form.

In this episode we talk about, amongst other things, colour, why she paints in oils when acrylics would appear to be the obvious choice, and how, when she was at art school, her approach was not at all in fashion.

Harper has been exhibiting for over 30 years and has had over 25 solo shows. In 2015, one of Australia’s leading art institutions, Heide Museum of Modern Art, held a major survey of her work called ‘Colour Sensation: The Works of Melinda Harper’. Her work is contained in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of NSW and other public and private collections.

I caught up with Harper at her home near the town of Castlemaine, in the beautiful goldfield regions of Victoria.

To hear the podcast interview press ‘play’ under the feature photo above.

A short video of Harper in her studio will be posted to this website, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube soon.