Amber Hearn

Amber Hearn is a mixed and multi-media artist based in Sydney, Australia. Growing up in regional New South Wales, Amber believes her nomadic childhood has shaped her relationship with notions of home, memories, land and places. Amber’s artistic practice engages the fields of painting, installation and performance video, including virtual reality.

Says Amber of her work: “My work explores human experience and connection/lack of connection with the landscape. My paintings present worlds which are void of the human yet hold a trace of where the body may have been through their movement and vibrance. I use a combination of free, bold brush markings and constrained forms in an attempt to create an environment which embodies both the pain and beauty of being human and how we experience the landscape/what we leave behind. I often draw upon my experience growing up in the bush and utilise memories I have gathered throughout my childhood.

“Some of my earliest memories are of the landscape. We moved around a lot and lived in Papua New Guinea for my primary years where I was home schooled by my mother before moving to Tamworth, regional New South Wales. My dad flies small aircraft so flying with him regularly, so close to the ground, the landscape starts to look like an interesting collection of sectioned-off planes of colour. This perspective of the landscape has sat with me throughout the development of my art practice. My process reflects on this exposure to nature and the landscape from such varying angles. This has informed how I approach my painting process and composition in general. I often section off and simplify shapes and forms, with a combination of perspective which is both macro and micro.

“My work is an exploration of these ideas within the sphere of the landscape. The landscape will always fascinate and comfort me, it speaks its familiar language yet always has something new to say.”

Amber graduated from The National Art School in 2014 with a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours). Amber is a recent finalist in the Glover Art Prize, Fishers Ghost Art Award and Blacktown City Art Prize.