LUCY O'DOHERTY

Lucy produces images so insistently lovely that they begin to feel unsettling. Whether she is depicting a heavily manicured urban backyard or an ‘untouched’ landscape, her treatment is equally painstaking. The composition is carefully worked out, gradations of colour smooth, paint strokes deliberately few. Her palette is one of ice-cream pastel pinks, blues and creams. Edges tend to be blurred, as if the images are being viewed through a 1980s soap opera lens or eyes hazy with tears. Without exception, the scenes are empty of people and animals. Beaches gape. Diners are clientless. Swimming pools lie abandoned, often drained.

Lucy’s works are whimsical and often difficult to interpret. What initially appears to be the trunk of a palm tree might in fact be the stand for an oversized umbrella. A form looming beyond a flamboyantly shaped pool might be an outdoor lamp, or a neighbour’s heater, or something else altogether.

Courtesy Jhana Millers