Best known for her ethereal and visually immersive painting practice, Adrienne Gaha is a significant figure in the Australian contemporary art scene. Exhibiting in solo exhibitions since 1986, Gaha has developed a distinctive practice characterised by intuitive mark-making, layered imagery and richly evocative scenes. Her works often draw together disparate visual references, creating compositions that are at once dreamlike and deeply contemplative.

Emerging from her distinct visual world, Adrienne Gaha’s ‘Solder Doll’ is immediately intriguing. Suspended on the canvas lies a subversive image of a child-like doll, dressed up in a World War I soldier’s uniform. Behind this figure, an illustrated scene of pilgrim children running from a wild animal, their childhood games abruptly halted. In layering these images together, Gaha’s composition confronts the viewer, allowing them to imagine a world where the sanctity of childhood innocence is corrupted. Intelligent and introspective, ‘Soldier Doll’ reveals itself gradually, its apparent simplicity giving way to a more complex meditation on innocence, memory and the darker undercurrents of play.

Gaha continues to exhibit extensively across Australia and the UK, with her work represented in major public collections including the National Gallery of Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria. For collectors interested in significant figures within Australian contemporary art, Gaha’s work offers a compelling combination of conceptual depth, visual richness and enduring collectability.

Adrienne GAHA (1960 - )
'Soldier Doll' 1993
mixed media on canvas
Image Size: 34 x 54 cm
Dimensions: 39 x 59 x 5 cm
Signed: Signed verso: A Gaha
Comes with Letter of Provenance

Exhibited: Adrienne Gaha, Charles Nodrum Gallery, June, 1993;Australian Contemporary Art Fair 4, Melbourne, 1994 

Literature & references: State of the Art, October, 1995, illus cover.

Condition: Excellent 

(c) The Artist or Assignee