Up-and-comer Visaya Hoffie is a Queensland-based artist whose work cuts across traditional hierarchies, fusing high art with popular culture. Since graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Art from Queensland College of Art, Brisbane in 2017, her endearing and quirky visual language has garnered increasing attention, with a playful multimedia installation earning her a commendation award in this year’s churchie emerging art prize. Hoffie’s technical skill as a painter, coupled with her wry sense of humour and taste for the unconventional, results in genre-bending works that hold instant appeal. An eclectic range of references – though often familiar at an individual level – are abstracted and defamiliarized when placed within the artist’s multi-layered painted landscapes. The acerbic one-liners that are often embedded in her works disarm viewers with their gentle prodding of contemporary issues and values, providing an additional layer of meaning. Lending itself well to design collaborations, a number of commercial clients have made use of Hoffie’s work to tap into the visual zeitgeist. However, equally at home in a gallery, that’s where we expect we’ll be seeing her work more and more.
Featured image: Visaya Hoffie, What if you get reincarnated into a maggot dog, 2020. Acrylic and mixed media on board, 71 x 91cm. Photo: Charlie Hillhouse. Courtesy: the artist.