Louise Forthun (b. 1959), artist, works primarily in painting and printmaking and has an aesthetic and conceptual focus on the architectural landscape of Australia’s urban environments. Born in Port Macquarie in New South Wales, she trained at RMIT, Melbourne and the Victorian College of Art. Her stencil-based painting and printmaking method enables Forthun to create complex layers of architectural forms, a technique that alternately defines and blurs the boundaries of the Australian cityscape. The artist's enduring exploration of the urban landscape has solidified her place in the Australian artistic vernacular of landscape painting and printmaking, which includes iconic artists such as Fred Williams, John Olsen and William Robinson. Forthun has exhibited in Australia and internationally since the 1980s and her work is held in private and public collections.
Angela Brennan's portrait of Forthun is an exploration of form and portraiture. The deep velvet palette is cleverly juxtaposed both with the vibrant yellow and green of Stephen Bram's abstract artwork and with Forthun's pale face and white pants. Brennan has captured her subject's striking features: large eyes, manicured brow and sculptural hair. The flat and restrained composition provides a space of mediative calm and offers an intimate and visually striking portrait of one artist by another.
Gift of the artist 2021. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program
© Angela Brennan/Copyright Agency, 2021
Stephen Bram painting is kindly reproduced with permission of the artist
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