For Narrm-based contemporary artist Katie Eraser, emotion is at the core of how art conveys our experience of being in the world.
Working predominantly in abstract figuration, Eraser rebels against the idea of perfection, and instead invites an exploration of raw humanness. Her practice examines our most intimate moments, by bringing into focus, the sticky and the strange. The forms are challenging and cryptic, leaving parts of the plane exposed to initiate dialogue with the viewer. Eraser’s paintings pulsate with intuitive mark making, that portray investigations into how we truly feel.
In ‘Can you really feel it,’ Eraser continues her exploration into painting as a means to initiate dialogue. In Eraser’s new work, faces collide with motifs from nature, composed through intuitive and deliberate mark making. Flat acrylic layers float under the energetic pulsation of oil stick, creating a complex and interwoven play of mediums on paper. Drawing and painting is always a process of self-discovery for Eraser, each stroke in the process draws her closer to knowing herself better. This body of work is about the flow of energy, desire, meanings and people that permeate the complicated subjectivity of life. Eraser intends to transport the viewer into co-presence with the figures depicted in the works, to encourage the viewer to be with their own experience of the feeling being articulated. These recent works break down the distinction between public and private spaces, and invite the viewer into the intimate. The titles of works, offer propositions to communicate, unraveling the desire to transpose feeling into the visual narrative.
Eraser is currently studying her Masters of Contemporary Art at the Victorian College of the Arts. She has previously completed her Masters in Therapeutic Arts Practice from the Miecat Institute, and holds a Bachelor of Design from Billy Blue College of Design. Since 2017 she has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Australia. Eraser was awarded the Fortyfive Downstairs Emerging Artist Award in 2018.
