Eerie but fascinating at the same time – that is probably the best way to describe Brisbane based painter Monica Rohan's self portrait paintings which feature girls hiding and tumbling around in heaps of patterned textiles, plants and flowers.
Monica Rohan’s sensitivity to her surroundings is evident in the carefully composed works, which reveal a love of pattern, light and colour. The paint retains a lucid quality and the decorative potential of textiles and luxuriant foliage act as ready symbols for the day lit world. Nevertheless there is an intrigue within her images, which first present as innocent and whimsical: on closer engagement, isolation and human frailty seem to shadow the pensive languor of the protagonist. – Jan Murphy Gallery
