# Reg Mombassa artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/reg-mombassa/
Profile generated: 2026-05-23T09:25:41.575Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: New Zealand-born Australian
- Movements: Contemporary Australian art
- Common media: painting, limited edition fine art prints

## About Reg Mombassa

Reg Mombassa is the pseudonym of Christopher O'Doherty (born 1951), a New Zealand-born Australian artist and musician recognized for his landscape paintings, limited edition prints, and distinctive depictions of Australian suburban and rural scenes. He rose to public prominence as a founding member of the ARIA-winning band Mental As Anything and later formed Dog Trumpet with his brother. Mombassa's visual art is characterized by what he terms "Hypersonic Realism" — meticulously rendered landscapes that capture the quiet poetry of everyday Australian settings, from coastal cottages and inland homesteads to nocturnal industrial tableaux. His dual career in music and visual art has made his work accessible to a broad collector base, and he continues to produce and sell works through his official studio. He is represented in the authority files of the National Library of Australia, the Library of Congress, and VIAF.

## Common works and media

Collectors most frequently encounter Mombassa's limited edition fine art prints and original landscape paintings. Common subjects include Australian houses and domestic architecture (brick homes, cottages, rural dwellings), coastal and inland landscapes, nocturnes, and urban infrastructure such as electricity pylons and motel swimming pools. Notable published works include pieces depicting the Sydney Opera House from Dawes Point, houses at Diggers Camp and Wentworth Falls, and the Dubbo House series. His monograph "Hypersonic Realism: The Landscapes of Reg Mombassa" documents his landscape practice.

## Market and appraisal context

Reg Mombassa's limited edition fine art prints and original paintings appear in Australian and Oceanian art sales. Key factors affecting appraisal include whether the work is an original painting or a numbered print, the edition size, the subject (iconic Australian landmarks and landscapes tend to attract stronger interest), and documented provenance from the artist's studio or an established gallery. Collectors should verify attribution carefully, as Mombassa's cross-disciplinary fame in music can lead to confusion between visual artworks and music memorabilia. No comprehensive public auction record was available in the source pack, so comparable sales should be checked through dedicated auction databases.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files and official sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Reg Mombassa, identity data is drawn from VIAF, the Library of Congress, Wikidata, and the artist's official studio site.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7307828
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/106887645/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2010008748
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reg_Mombassa
- Reg Mombassa: http://regmombassa.com/