Andrew Kelaher

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Born in 1973, Andrew Kelaher began painting extensively as a child and his early inspiration came from Rolf Harris.  Encouragement from his family resulted in his works being exhibited in art prizes and exhibitions from very early on in his life. Mentored by artist Don Lahens, he learnt how to work with Oil paints and simple composition. However this early interest in painting was put on hold during his teenage years to pursue a new passion for sailing. As well as racing he began designing and building boats which resulted in various State and National title winning craft.

After completing a Science degree in 1994 the lure of travel, surfing, skiing and snowboarding dominated Andrew’s attention.  He traveled extensively through Canada and the USA. During this time his artistic flare resurfaced in the form of sculpture. Using snow as a medium Andrew created huge sculptures and as a result of  this, he was asked to create a Snow sculpture for the premier of the movie Ice Age 3D.  Andrew’s initial passion for painting was also reignited through this period. An unfortunate back injury caused several months of rehabilitation and to pass the days he returned to his early interest in painting, creating visual escapes on canvas. These new works, largely inspired by Brett Whiteley and William Robinson, were the catalyst for a fulltime career, a renewed love for all things art and a return to exhibiting once again.

He is influenced by a wide range of inspirational sources, constantly absorbing ideas from artworks around the world as well as directly from his present life of surfing and skiing. Andrew’s paintings incorporate various techniques with fine washes, heavy impastos and bright contrasts all used to get his ideas onto canvas. He will use any number of different materials to achieve what he requires from purely Oil or Acrylic paints to using Carbon fibre and Epoxy resins.  Andrew creates images that he finds pleasing and that match his personality - they are about happiness, beauty, loveliness and  being captured by the landscape or soaking up vivid colours and earthy abstract textures.

“I like Henri Matisse’s idea of a painting being like a big comfy armchair that you can relax back into and enjoy”