Author(s): MCGREGOR KEN

Australian Art

Melinda Harper is a young artist who came into prominence in the 1990s as a member of the 'Store 5' group who actively sought to re-instate geometric abstraction in the contemporary art scene. Her work has also been included in many major exhibitions of abstract art: the 'Legacy of Op Art' at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; 'Perspecta' at the Art Gallery of New South Wales and 'Primavera' at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. Harper's subject matter is restricted to a simple vocabulary of pure abstract shapes and colours. Her paintings are a celebration of colour, forming a visual kaleidoscope painted in a systematic way and usually in groups and series. These precisely executed geometric compositions are visually dazzling, bold and expressive and are based on the repetition in different compositions of multicoloured irregular shapes. She explores this interplay of geometric structures by using variations of size and the positioning of the blocks of colours within all-over patterns. Harper's purpose is also to use these geometric patterns to create the illusion of movement.