SUZANNE KELLEHER
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Suzanne Kelleher is a Brisbane-based artist known for her expressive palette knife paintings that explore the relationship between people and the Australian landscape. Using thick impasto acrylic and gestural strokes, she captures fleeting moments of human connection - whether it's families on a sun-drenched beach or a lone figure drawn to the fading light of an outback sunset. Suzanne's work evokes nostalgia, movement, and a deep sense of place, anchored by the quiet, contemplative presence of people within the landscape.
Beach Daze
Acrylic on canvas, framed.
126.5 x 126.5 cm
$9800
Suzanne has painted "Beach Daze" as a vivid, sunlit celebration of Australia's iconic coastline - in this instance, Queensland's famous Surfers Paradise beach on the Gold Coast. It's where the almost white sand is hot underfoot, the deep blue surf is alive with energy, and holiday beach rituals unfold in textured layers of human connection. Painted solely with palette knives, this large-scale work captures the movement, warmth and humanness of a typical day at the beach. Layers of textural knife marks depict figures soaking up the sun, relaxing on the sand, walking along the shoreline or sitting watching the waves crash in , all in the midst of a iconic red and yellow lifeguard flag fluttering against a vibrant blue sky-anchoring this scene in a distinctly Australian setting. This work evokes a sense of familiarity with our carefree summer beach culture and the ordinary moments that become treasured holiday memories.
Chasing the Sunset
Acrylic on linen, framed.
126.5 x 126.5 cm
$7300
Set against the vastness of Queensland's outback and upon the escarpment of Scrammy Gorge near Winton, "Chasing the Sunset" captures a fleeting moment - when the day's heat softens into golden light and sky stretches wide with promise. In her distinctive palette knife style, Suzanne captures a lone figure, a friend she was travelling with, descending the rocky path in pursuit of the beautiful fading glow on the horizon. Golden light spills across the land whilst a myriad of rich ochres, dusty purples and patches of olive greens meet soft warm pastels, evoking a sense of drama and stillness of "Queensland's spectacular western interior landscape. Undertaking looser knife marks and a more abstract treatment of the distant vista, she has contrasted this with finely textured details of the figure and foliage in the foreground, echoing the pull between vastness and intimacy. This piece is a quiet homage to the curiosity, connection and the simple joy of being present in nature's grandest show.