Pro Hart’s teenage granddaughter has paint running through her veins, Julie Hayne reports.
She’s only 14, but Chloe Hart’s tender age hasn’t stopped her from hosting her first art exhibition – or deterred people from lining up to commission her paintings.
Her success, however, comes as no surprise to her family. After all, she is the third generation of Harts to make a splash in the art world. And David, her proud painter father, says the family patriarch, Pro, would be beaming had he lived to see her success.
“I know that if Dad were alive he would have absolutely loved the fact that his granddaughter has just had her first art exhibition,” David tells Woman’s Day.
“About a week before he passed away, I showed him a little painting of a beach scene Chloe had done and told him someone had just bought it for $700. He was so happy his granddaughter had picked up the desire to paint, and that his great love for the medium was flowing on down through the family.”
Known for his flamboyant style and eccentric outback lifestyle – as well as his famous “Oh Mr Hart, what a mess!” carpet ad of the ’80s – Pro was much-loved by Australians. After his death from motor neurone disease in 2006, the rest of the world recognised his talent and he was lauded as one of the nation’s great artists.
To granddaughter Chloe, though, he was always just Pop. And she has countless fond memories of the man she credits as instilling a love for art in her: “When I was little, Pop would take me out to his studio and give me these little square magnets and some paint so I could play around,” Chloe explains.
“He was a real practical joker, so one Christmas I bought him a remote control rat which he loved to drag out from time to time.”
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