Sunday Telegraph June 2020

The Harts

Pro Hart, David and Chloe Hart

Artistic Dynasties don't get any more unique than that of David and Chloe Hart - the son and granddaughter of legendary renegade painter Pro Hart. 

Prior to his death in 2006, Hart had defied the "serious critics" to become one of the most acclaimed commercially successful artists of his era. Not surprisingly, it was quite the legacy to live up to. 

"he certainly laid the foundations" says David, also an accomplished painter based in Brisbane. 

"I remember going out to his studio in Broken Hill and watching him in action. He would always say to me, 'the minute you stop learning things is the minute you check out.' And that i think was the thing i loved about him the most. I'd ring him to say hello and he would say something like; 'Oh, I just discovered this new thing, I'm painting upside down in rollerskates,' or something equally outrageous. He never stopped experimenting and pushing the boundaries. And that's what he taught me."

It would be a trait that would inevitably be passed down to Chloe, now a painter and gallery owner who would show glimmers of both her father and grandfather's brilliance at 11 years of age, when she would sell her first painting. Now 25, the legacy of her legendary "Poppy" continues to loom large. 

"I definitely have some lovely memories of him teaching me to paint," she says, recalling seeing firsthand her grandfather's signature "wild" style. "I remember being at his studio in Broken Hill and watching him shooting paint balls onto the canvas. That was him. He got incredibly involved with the paint and how it fell. Other times we would go out on day trips into the middle of nowhere and just sit and sketch the outback. But in terms of influence, my dad has been very strict in making sure that I learn things and do thing for myself. And not lean too much on him or my name? The lesson that has always been very much that I be my own artist."