Three 20th Century Martyrs 2006

3 Panels. Each: 126 x 85 cm Overall: 126 x 259 cm (incl. 2cm gap between each panel)
Left panel: $AUS455
Centre Panel: $AUS455
Right Panel $AUS455
Three Panels: As shown below

This three panel artwork consists of three panels of drawings using a variety of different media on stretched Canson paper, stretched in a similar manner to stretching canvas, except the paper is moistened with a damp sponge on a hard surface, rolled up and unrolled on the verso surface, this is repeated until the paper has expanded then the edges of the paper is stapled to the back of the stretcher bars, just like a canvas for an oil painting. The three panels were originally inspired by a desire by the artist to draw three symbolic portraits of the men whom he knew most about. Hence the left hand panel is essentially a portrait of the artist’s best mate, Mr Battersby. The central panel comprises a self portrait in symbolic form. The right hand panel is an emblematic portrait of the artist’s brother in law, Andrew Hackett.

Given the fact that the artist most admired the so-called ‘Buddhist Period’ of his school and university friend, he decided it best to depict the writer and former musician as the war torn sculpture that is carved into the living rock of a mountain in Afghanistan, that depicted the Buddha. Prior to the war between America, it’s allies and the Taliban in 2001, Taliban militants decided (as philistines often do) to carve off a beautiful face from this world renowned sculpture. So I painted this mammoth sculpture using a number of ink washes and smaller brushes. I decided the best way to rectify this ‘faceless’ problem would be to depict an image of the cover of the “Bahgavad-Gita”, which represents the Indian and Hindu origins of the spiritual movement of Buddhist learning. I used tracing paper to trace the Haré Krishna book cover using a window pane as a light source then transposed it onto the Canson paper and blocked in the rest of the image using a softer to harder range of pencils.

The central panel is a self portrait of the artist, where in this case the background is drawn a photograph of trees outside the holiday home once owned by the celebrated architect, and long time friend of the family, the dearly departed Judy Ambler, again drawn with brush and ink. In the centre of the panel is shown the hide of Phar Lap, as housed in the Victorian Museum, in a display case, but the horse is upside down, at once symbolic of the artist’s distaste of horse-racing, but also referencing both the English surrealist, Francis Bacon and the upside down figurative paintings of the German neo-expressionist, Georg Baselitz. The vitrine is actually surrounded by an image of the ship that transported Phar Lap to America, before the horse met his melancholic demise, drawn in pen and ink, drawn in a manner similar to the paintings of Patrick Caulfield.

Finally, the right hand panel appropriates a painting of Christ by a 19th Century Neo-Classical French painter. I wanted to depict my devout Christian brother in law, who is a civil engineer and has spent many years completing the building of his house in Normanhurst, but I wanted to do so in my own terms, using iconography that I could understand. Echoing the technique used in the left hand panel, I traced the image from the unsung Science Fiction classic novel, “Behold the Man” by Michael Moorecock. It is a riveting story about a man who travels back in time to the year 1 in an egg shaped membrane, meets and befriends a young Jesus Christ, and eventually takes his place on the cross, to save the life of the young carpenter.

I think this three panel artwork will appeal to those with acquired tastes (like the creamy but strangely textured oyster!) and it will provide solace to those that love horses, or different takes on spirituality. It might even just work as a calming influence to a lively living room or dining room!

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**News Flash**

One of Patrick’s surrealist portraits will be shown at:

Where: Braemar Gallery,
104 Macquarie Road
Springwood NSW 2777
When:
Gallery Opening Hours from 10am-4pm,
Wednesdays through to Sundays,
Exhibition Runs:
From Thursday 30th July to Sunday 30th August
Admission: Free
☎ Contact:
Email braemargallery@gmail.com or phone the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre on 02 4780 5410.
Webpage: https://www.bluemountainstheatre.com.au/braemar-house/what-s-on/braemar-gallery/
YouTube link:
https://youtube.com/shorts/fZhoIB7YRI8?si=55RiOQkvckO6l-XC

Also:

Currently two of Patrick's oil paintings have been selected for inclusion in OnArt Magazine, an online magazine, based in Italy:
2026: pages 118 - 119.
OnArt Magazine, Vol. One, Online art magazine, Pages: 118-119, Italian magazine: https://issuu.com/onartmag/docs/onart_vol._one/118?ff

**End News Flash**

If you're interested in a gift portrait of a friend, family member, dog or horse, for BLACK FRIDAY, please PM me or text me on 0415HROMAS. My rates for all beloved individuals are, (drawn or painted on A3 sized paper or canvas): $160 for black & white conté/pastel drawing, $220 for a coloured pastel drawing, $260 for a coloured oil painting, all from .jpegs, POSTAGE IS FREE in the cost for all artworks that are sized A3 (or smaller) and can be rolled up, to *all Australian Metropolitan Areas*, international postage extra. Don't delay! Thank you,
Patrick

Patrick Hromas, BA (Visual) 1996

I am a visual artist who was born in Sydney in 1973, and grew up in Hunters Hill. I have been making bespoke art ever since I remember, drawing the Hunters Hill Post Office when I was 13, “built in 1891 as designed by the government architect, Walter Liberty Vernon, in Queen Anne Style”. I graduated from the Canberra School of Art, Australian National University, in 1996. I enjoyed an enriching experience as a student exchange recipient with Ecole Nationalé Superieur des Beaux Artes for five months in 1995/6. I suffered from a mental health problem after being hospitalised in Nîmes in the South of France. Now that I have largely overcome that health issue, I draw in pastels or conté, paint in oil colours and occasionally watercolours.

I have shown my artworks in seven solo shows and 52 group exhibitions, as far west & north as London, United Kingdom, as far east as Bronte and far south as Acton the Australian Capital Territory. As a member of the Blue Mountains Community Arts Network, I was invited to exhibit my painting: “Macquarie Road (Why should you be different from other men? I am told that there is hardly a husband in London who does not waste his life over some shameful passion.)” in the group exhibition: Infinities of Blue, in the Fountain Court at Parliament House of New South Wales. Most notably, one of my hand printed, hand typeset artists books is in the collection of the Australian National University Library, Acton, ACT.

I adore to draw sitters’ portraits in pastel or conté generally from .jpegs, adding a background image from their favourite holiday happy snaps. Conté is a hard, waxy stick like crayon and is virtually indelible once applied to fine art paper. To enquire, please send me a message, via text to: +61 2 415HROMAS, the message service here or leave a voice message on my home number, +61 2 4751 8279.

I only use archival quality materials throughout my practice. I am also a committed eco-friendly artist.

I construct, using Photoshop, mock-ups for the my collages or oil paintings by scavenging imagery as a Postmodern surrealist, from a variety of sources. I then go about weaving the figures in the .jpeg image and further teasing out forms, colours and compositions, painting the final work from my iMac screen. Only when the balance between these elements and an even an absence or obscurification of image is reached so to let the eye rest, as instinct or aesthetics demand, is the painting complete.

“Patrick is an artist who truly loves what he does. He immerses himself in the world around him and ways to capture its joy, its pleasures and those moments that compose the passages of time. He also maintains a sense of the paint itself. The choice of media and colour are always so key in representing the artist’s world, but these choices and techniques also convey emotion and feeling, and that is what Patrick does with heart and depth. The colour blue is predominant in Patrick’s work, perhaps because he resides in the Blue Mountains and that dusky landscape inspires him. In art historical terms, the cobalt, ultramarine and light purple were also colours used by the Renaissance painters and they add a sense of light and calm to Patrick’s work.”
Anna Groden,
ANG Art Consulting.
(Email:
angartconsulting@gmail.com)

I hope to exhibit my work in a National art Prize, and hold further solo exhibitions in the Blue Mountains and Sydney. I have a number of drawings and paintings in the collection of individuals residing in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, the ACT, India and Japan.

All my paintings and drawings on stretcher bars that are not framed behind glass have 2 d-rings attached for larger artworks or 2 triangular rings attached securely, 12cm from the top of the artwork. My framed artworks larger than A2 size, have d-rings *and* a nylon chord or plastic coated wire for hanging. My artworks framed behind glass smaller than A2 have a nylon chord for hanging.

On Thursday, 11 November 2021, between 2PM and 3PM AEST (NSW) TIME, Patrick was interviewed by Toni Lontis on Radio Toni:
https://youtu.be/_7mR1OkrHx4

If you’ve tried calling me on my mobile, please feel free to call my home number 02 4751 8279 where you can also leave a message. I usually return home at 6:00PM.