Holly Greenwood: The art of the Aussie pub, in all its grit and glory
From smoke-hazed bars to brass-trimmed bartops, rising art star Holly Greenwood captures the raw, untold poetry of Australia’s pub culture – and the world is taking notice | WATCH
Nolan had Ned Kelly, Whiteley had landscapes. For Holly Greenwood, her object of Australiana desire rests in the pub – and all the memories drenched and stained within the polypropylene carpet.
“You can kind of smell the stories there in them,” she laughs.
The decorated young Australian artist has propelled on to the global stage in the past few years, most recently named a finalist in the Sovereign Asian Art Prize in Hong Kong – one of few Aussies to reach the level in the award’s 23-year history.
Praised for her exploration of pub culture, Greenwood’s shadowy abstract oils and translucent depictions of punters have elevated the approachable – yet illusive – machinations behind the beloved Australian pastime.
Her fascination with the tradies, locals and bartenders she’s observed over the years inform her latest collection Chameleons across eight sprawling canvases, moody atmospheres informed by the lore of our beloved taprooms. Backed by veteran gallerist Tim Olsen, Greenwood says she won’t become another Australian export.
“I know a lot of Australian artists that have left to pursue their careers elsewhere because they think that maybe they can get more out of being in another country, or find more of a platform,” she explains.
“But I’ve always felt that this is my home – I want to continue to explore and honour that. It’s the characters that live in this country that I’m always fascinated by.”
With a distinctly “ocker” take on post-impressionism, despite Greenwood’s upbringing in a famous family – as the daughter of Hugo Weaving and Katrina Greenwood – she prefers the comforts of country life, brokering a career that has taken her through regional towns such as Broken Hill and Hill End.
Regularly painting outside her studio, among the people she so often depicts, of her childhood she simply muses “I was raised in an artistic family, painting was always encouraged”.
“My brother is an actor, my cousin’s an actor, my dad's an actor – I wanted to take my own path. It was a natural thing for me.”
In late 2023, her brother, actor Harry Greenwood, was embroiled in controversy after participating in a pro-Palestine protest on the opening night of Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Seagull. At the time, an STC spokeswoman apologised for “any distress caused”.
Looking back, the artist notes the media cycle “had a big impact”, at the time, but remains focused on her latest collection.
“When I started painting, it was kind of like a meditative state – the immediacy of it, capturing a moment in time feels very special to me,” she shares.
Such characters she depicts are uncannily familiar to anyone who’s ever stepped through the rounded Victorian arches, or Jarrah wood interiors.
There’s the lone tradie on the curve of a brass-embellished bartop, a pair of women in the mirror finessing their looks, natural shapeshifters equipped with a vulnerable anonymity that makes them so intoxicating and familiar to her audience.
“Often people chat at pubs, but then there’s someone sitting alone beside them – and there’s a freedom in that,” she muses. “You’re part of something, without needing to talk. People come to be among others, not necessarily to converse – just to feel that shared presence.”
Greenwood’s eye for the mundane arrives at a pivotal time – when our collective hunger for connection is rubbing up against the lingering effects of isolation, compounded by the pandemic and our growing dependence on technology.
Her desire to capture the bubbling microcosm of pub culture – where overheard political rants meet small-town gossip – first started in a dark, draughty corner of Grogan’s in Dublin.
Amid a particularly brisk winter, Greenwood observed the congregational nature of crowds, huddling together – drink in hand or not – to keep warm and hang out.
That curiosity travelled back home with her to the family’s local in Dungog, where she sketched dazed regulars in gauche and pencil, the first inklings of her now-signature style.
“I realised that it was a beautiful way to communicate with someone through painting,” she says.
The recent nod to Greenwood’s work isn’t her first. She was a finalist in the Sir John Sulman Prize in 2022 and 2024, and the Portia Geach Memorial Award in 2021 – a testament to her capacity to capture the enduring significance of institutions that shape Australian cultural identity.
As for whether she’s ever traded a painting for a pint, Greenwood grins.
“I’ve definitely had an offer or two.”
Chameleons will be open to the public at the Olsen Gallery from until Saturday, July 21, 2025.
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