OUTPOURINGS at Elements Art Gallery is the fourth solo exhibition by Mosman Park abstract expressionist Caroline Christie, featuring works that she describes as confident and explorative.
Christie’s trademark circles and drippy aspects, present in the Enter, Slant and Delve exhibitions, continue to appear in Outpourings but with a mature edge.
The exhibition also marks the release of Christie’s biography by arts writer Rebecca deRooy, a biography that delves into the background of the artist and provides an in-depth look into the emergence of those circles.
Christie said being interviewed by deRooy had proved insightful. “I didn’t give it much thought but being interviewed about the progression of my work and how she questioned me, I could see the overview and progression clearly,” she said.
“She would point out things from my early work, such as paintings that I would paint over, and ask about the psychology of it.”
An interest in drawing and painting led the South African-born artist to art dealing in South Africa and then in Australia.
After a decade of helping to launch the careers of some prominent WA artists with her gallery Code Red, Christie sold the business and focused on her painting.
“It was liberating,” Christie explained.
“When I paint it’s like a meditation, an outpouring or release.”
Christie said her work did not have a narrative to tell people what to feel but it asked people to listen to themselves with the stimuli of colour, texture and light.
She said her work allowed people to access their own psychology with no leads or prompts.
“I have complete faith in the creative process and create a happening on the canvas,” she said.
“The matrix of the painting is life and the circle is the self.”
Outpourings is on from February 13 to 28.