Colour as a language, emotion as the subject. Port Melbourne abstract expressionist Catherine Hiller now shows her original oils on linen and framed prints at Cocolea.
Catherine Hiller. Image courtesy of catherinehiller.com.
A neighbour and an artist we admire
Some of the best partnerships begin down the street. Catherine Hiller paints in her studio at 25A Crockford Street, Port Melbourne, a short walk from our showroom on Plummer Street. We have long admired how her canvases change a room: they bring energy to a quiet space and warmth to a minimal one, and they give a living room a focal point that no piece of furniture can match. Today we are proud to be an official retail partner. You can view and buy Catherine's original paintings and framed prints at Cocolea.
From realism to pure abstraction
Catherine fell in love with painting as a child and began studying art at twelve. She lived and worked across France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Kenya before settling in Melbourne. She spent decades painting in a realist style, then moved into expressionism with her long-running Entangled series on couples and emotion. About ten years ago she let go of representation completely. In abstraction she found the freedom to express feeling through colour "in its rawest form". You can read more on her About page and in her interviews with KAB Gallery and Buxton.
How the paintings are made
Catherine works only in oil on linen, using artist-grade pigments from makers such as Gamblin, Schmincke and Sennelier. Each painting is built up over many layers, beginning with dark pigments and working towards light. The layers become part of the meaning: in her words they reflect "the up and downs of life" alongside resilience and positivity. The brushwork is strong and gestural and the colour is saturated, so the surface keeps revealing new depth as the light moves through the day. That is exactly why an original matters in a considered interior.
Inner Bloom, detail. Image courtesy of Catherine Hiller.
The collection at Cocolea
We have launched four works, each offered as an original oil on linen (123 × 153 cm) or as a framed canvas print at a comparable scale.
Inner Bloom is ready to ship and on display now in our Port Melbourne showroom, and the Inner Bloom framed print is also available. Lone Flower is offered as an original or a framed print. Fleeting Love can be ordered as an original or a framed print. As Seasons Sigh completes the collection, as an original or a framed print. Every title hints at the feeling Catherine was chasing, and each work reads differently depending on the light and the room around it.
From top: Inner Bloom, Lone Flower, Fleeting Love, As Seasons Sigh. Images courtesy of Catherine Hiller.
Originals are RRP $4,550 and framed prints are RRP $1,200, with a limited 5% Cocolea saving currently applied. Made-to-order works are delivered in approximately two to four weeks. Inner Bloom is ready to ship within about a week.
Commissions, studio visits and following Catherine
If you are looking for a particular scale or palette for a specific wall, Catherine also takes private commissions. You can explore more of her gallery of work, visit her Port Melbourne studio by appointment through her contact page, and follow new paintings as they unfold on Instagram @catherinehiller_art and Facebook. Her work also appears through Artbid.
To see Inner Bloom in person, or to talk through how a Catherine Hiller original would sit with your furniture and finishes, visit our Port Melbourne showroom or book a consultation with our design team.