Adrienne Gaha ‘Progress of Love’

The title, ‘Progress of Love’ is the name of four paintings by Fragonard. I have used this as a starting point for many of the paintings in this exhibition. Also included are images that are not from the Rococo period, but they continue to reflect some of its themes: nature, theatre, dreamscapes, asymmetry, and a loosely painted surface.

The ‘Progress of Love’ paintings were commissioned by Madame du Barry then rejected by her in favour of the work of a neoclassical painter. They were rolled up and forgotten for 20 years before they were eventually re-stretched by Fragonard in his cousin’s home in Grasse. Having once been the most famous artist in France, the artist continued to add to the series in obscurity. The paintings rose again in the 19th century during the heated art market of London when fabulously wealthy Americans of the gilded age were buying up big. The paintings ended up in NYC, and in 1915, the famous dealer, Duveen, sold them to Frick who installed them in his house. The house is now a museum where Fragonard's virtuosity stands the test of time.

It is fascinating to me, watching the zeitgeist shift. In the 1770’s, Rococo’s frivolity and overt sexuality lost ground to the more ‘worthy’ subjects of the Neo Classical period as well as the events leading to the French revolution. Despite this rejection of Fragonard his talent as a painter has been an inspiration to many painters including the impressionists .

I have used imagery from the Rococo movement for over 40 years in my painting practice with varying amounts of critical distance! My ‘Progress of Love ‘ exhibition is based on images that have often been in my studio for many years. I revisit them through the changing lens of my age and current concerns. They are old friends, some I see often, some not for years, Some have to wait for the moment when I feel I can take them on. Drawn to these images in a subjective way, I explore them at first by painting the image. Inevitably there is a moment were the brush stroke or colour takes over and start having a say on the progress of the painting.

For me, painting is its own language, or perhaps a dialogue which can deal with the ambiguity of beauty in its many forms; its transience, its every-day quality, nostalgia, frivolity, escapism and decay. ‘Progress of Love’ feels like an appropriate way to describe painting with its eternal satisfactions and endless frustrations, as well as the notion that love, in its many forms, is part of our journey.

Adrienne Gaha, 2025

Adrienne Gaha’s mirage-like dreamscapes are an emotional and intuitive response to the world, constrained by her formal understanding of painting, surface, and form. Working with glazes, she layers and rubs colours into each other in a process of putting on and wiping off, letting the drips of paint and turpentine create interesting details in the surface. While doing so, she allows her mind to wander and contemplate life and the rhythms of the world around her.

Inspiration might come from mysticism, popular culture, politics, or art history, with Gaha often returning to the same source images over and over again - how these images are reinterpreted with each iteration highlights how she herself is changing over time. The combination of the first two colour layers in a painting are considered rather than spontaneous, often conveying a sense of nostalgia.

Gaha appears to work quickly, with many paintings on the go at one time. But integral to this process is a period of separation from the works - physically putting them away until she is ready to resolve them. This period of waiting is as much a part of the process as the physical act of painting.

The result is ethereal works that collapse the socio-political, emotional, and technical into a single space. Like a Troxler’s fade, tangible moments disappear into the background, figuration breaks down into abstraction, and light fades to shadow. Yet despite this elusiveness, an essence stays for the audience to respond to and recast through their own personal narrative.

Adrienne Gaha is a Sydney-born artist now living and working between Australia and Europe. An alum of the Sydney College of the Arts and the National Art School, Sydney, her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia as well as New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Mexico. A finalist in the Grace Cossington Smith Painting Award (2015, 2014) and the Geelong Contemporary Painting Prize (2014), her work is held in public, university and private collections through Australia.

Carrie McCarthy 2021