In Rob McHaffie’s playful work, you may recognise the outlines of familiar people and places. Across painting, ceramic sculpture, collage and works on paper, the artist splashes colour and humour into everyday scenes. From elegant women with jacketed greyhounds to NGV buskers and families at the beach, McHaffie captures it all.
“I’m trying to encapsulate the spirit of real people,” he says. “Whether it’s someone I’ve encountered or someone close to me, I’m always formulating a picture from someone that I know, and how their life or life experience influences me ..
. [The artworks] exist parallel to real life.” Artist Rob McHaffie at his Castlemaine studio.
Credit: Jason South Born and raised in Melbourne, McHaffie began his artistic career in the early 2000s, driven by a fascination with understanding other people through observation. His work takes stylistic inspiration from John Brack and David Hockney , as well as culturally from his wife’s Thai heritage. Moving to Castlemaine with his young family in 2020 gave the artist even more to draw from.
“I started considering things that I hadn’t felt licensed to consider, like painting the Australian landscape,” he says. “The more recent paintings bring in a fair bit of Castlemaine’s landscape and identity, and the type of person that I encounter around town ..
. The culture of the place is quite subtle, but kind of permeates everything.” All of this coalesces in McHaffie’s biggest exhibition yet.
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