It’s an all-too-common and universal story.
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A young, introverted artist whose career starts to blossom into brilliance, but is overwhelmed by mental health issues.
Norman Hofmaier was born in Beulah, in the isolated Mallee of Victoria, in 1951. The scion of a well-known family, he was educated at Ballarat College and Ballarat University. His love of wildlife and of the wide expanses of the Mallee found life in his abstract expressionist paintings, full of the light and dust and swirling winds of the region, expressed with a lyrical mysticism and surreality.
A recent exhibition at the Lost Ones Gallery in Camp Street explored the legacy of Hofmaier’s work as well as raising money for the Ballarat Art Foundation. The Hofmaier family donated 16 works of the artist to be sold to raise funds for the foundation, to support emerging artists.
Hofmaier’s childhood in Beulah was spent on the family property running beside the Yarriambiack Creek. Both he and his father had an intimate knowledge of the flora and fauna of the Mallee. The Wyperfeld National Park, home to the Big Desert, was a favourite place for Norman’s uncle who planted acres of native trees at the family property.
Dr Di Bresciani, who purchased a work of Hofmaier’s for the Ballarat Art Gallery and who was instrumental in organising the collection and the exhibition, says the artist had a truly intimate connection with the place he sprang from.
“The colours and vastness of the Mallee are represented in many works which reflect, variously, the relentless quiet and swirling energies found in the ‘dust storm might’ of the Mallee area,” writes Ms Bresciani in her introduction to the exhibition catalogue.
“Most works may be described as abstract, lyrical abstract or abstract expressionist. A major piece entitled “In the beginning” is a stunning example of expressionism, being filled with torrential energies.”
Norman Hofmaier was exhibited both collectively and in solo exhibitions. He won an award during the bicentennial recognising his skill as a Wimmera artist. From the 1970s until the 1990s he began an outpouring of work, using oil-based paints overlaid manually on large, specially-prepared boards using brushes, cloths, sponges, sprays or rollers. Petrol solvents were used to soften, blur and enhance shapes and edges.
His work reflected his exploration of his inner state, sometimes flowing and placid, sometimes tempestuous. Sadly mental illness took hold in the 1990s, and Norman Hofmaier ceased painting and required full-time care in a hospital.
The exhibition Mallee Mysteries is at Lost Ones Gallery until July 31.