Naomi Hobson joins Vivien Anderson Gallery

You can now find Naomi Hobson’s work at Vivien Anderson Gallery in Melbourne. Hobson’s colourful abstract compositions act as a link between individuality and a shared identity. Her continual inspiration is the vast traditional lands of her ancestors surrounding the town of Coen in Queensland and her culture. Residing on the banks of the riverbeds where her grandparents were born, Hobson lives in an old tin shed that was once her village church.

“I paint in my own personal space where I feel most comfortable including my back veranda, in the dry river beds, on the banks of my childhood fishing places as well as at the camp sites that my families have lived and spent time for thousands of years,” says the artist. “I will take time to look at the miniature things, the tiny little things that nature hides.”

Hobson is of the Kaantju/Umpila language group. Her small township is made up of 300 people at the bottom of the McIlwraith Ranges (part of the Great Dividing Range) surrounded by the east coast of Cape York Peninsula, rainforest and open wooded country, with many river systems that snake down to the northern section of the Great Barrier Reef. The local clans include Kaantju, Umpila, LamaLama, Ayapathu, Wik Mungkan and Olkola.

Hobson works across diverse media, painting, ceramics and photography. A rising star, she is already represented in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.

Naomi Hobson, Wild Lagoon, 2018. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 210 x 220cm. Courtesy: the artist and Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne.