Selected works exhibited Colville Gallery, nipaluna Hobart

Where Artists Work Produced by Peter Alan Roberts, LA. Studio 65, nipaluna Hobart.

Hobart-based artist Donna Lougher works on the tenth floor of Studio 65, a former office building in the heart of the CBD. Once populated by beige partitions, corner desks and stationery cupboards, it is now inhabited by creatives – artists, fashion designers and filmmakers. Donna’s studio is compact, filled with paintings stacked against the wall and sheets of paint spattered fabric on the floor. One side is taken up by windows, looking out onto an expansive vista of rooftops and streets crisscrossing below. It is this view from above that serves as the main influence for The Rooftop of Your Mind.

Moving on from Dark Flowers, her 2018 exhibition of still life florals painted in the interiors of her home, Donna’s new works are focused on movement in the public space - the ebb and flow of lunchtime crowds, the noise of industry and the evolving shapes of construction. While she paints what she sees from a high vantage point, paradoxically, the paintings in The Rooftop of Your Mind are equally about what lies beneath the surface – dirt, layers of dolerite, fossilised vegetation and the blood of previous generations. Many of Donna’s new paintings depict the urban architectural environment yet also speak of the natural materials they are borne from. Her chosen palette is dominated by brown, grey, blue and red, recalling the colours of clay, timber and stone as well as the contrasting industrial materials of concrete and steel.

While working on The Rooftop of Your Mind, the enduring Indigenous history modern cities are built upon was never far from Donna’s mind. In the early 2000s, Donna spent time traveling through remote Aboriginal communities, including Warmun Art Centre in the East Kimberley region and Ikuntji Artists at Haasts Bluff in the West MacDonnell Ranges. Surrounded by the red dirt of the desert, Donna was deeply influenced by the women working in these locations and their method of singing their artwork into being. Their techniques of repetitive mark making, profound connection to country and abundant use of earth-based pigments, continue to remain important to Donna’s own aesthetic and the way she thinks about the land.

In addition to our Indigenous history, throughout her artistic career Donna has drawn inspiration from a wide range of sources. From old school, bedrock-laden Flintstones cartoons and toy carparks, to Sex in the City and the infiltration of technology in to our daily lives, Donna also cites the botanicals of American painter Georgia O’Keefe, early work by Henri Rousseau and the raw, expressive paintings of Egon Schiele as steady influences. A consistent presence on the national art award circuit since 1990, in 2010 Donna was the recipient of Eskleigh’s Tasmanian Art Award. She has also been a finalist many times over in the Portia Geach Memorial Prize, the Lloyd Rees Art Prize, the Glover Prize and the Wynne Prize. Most recently, Donna completed the Kriti Artists Residency in Varanasi, India, an experience that resulted in her 2017 exhibition, The Wild River.

Briony Downes

The Rooftop Of Your Mind Colville Gallery, nipaluna Hobart Videography courtesy of Joseph Shrimpton 2020

©donnalougher2026

The Rooftop Garden 2020 153 x 184 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester

Skyline 2019 112 x 182 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester

Look Up, At the Sky 2020 112 x 183 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester Finalist Ravenswood Art Prize

Myself : Portrait - Landscape 2019 112 x 183 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester

View from the Studio 2019 102 x 168 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester

View from the Studio II 2019 112 x 153 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester

The Summit 2020 92 x 153 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester Private Collection

Murray Street, nipaluna Hobart 2019 87 x 137 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester

Tilt 2020 87 x 137 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester

T&G Building, nipaluna Hobart 2019 137 x 87 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester

Sunrise 2020 76 x 122 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester Private Collection

T&G Building, Murray Street Hobart 2019 107 x 67 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester

Dark Mofo / Hobart TAS 2019 diptych 71 x 92 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester

Gumnuts 2019 71 x 46 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester Private Collection

Lunch Time 2020 71 x 46 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester Exhibited Biennale Austria, Venice Italy Private Collection

TraveLodge 2019 41 x 66 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester Private Collection

Hobart City 2019 41 x 66 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester

City Blocks 2020 38 x 61 cm Synthetic polymer on polyester Private Collection