Molten by Carissa Karamarko
Drawing on the dream-like state of the mind, abstracted concepts and still life snapshots are perfectly fused in Carissa Karamarko’s latest show, Molten, at Saint Cloche gallery.
Words: Hande Renshaw I Photography: Claudia Lowe & Carissa Karamarko
‘Colour, movement and texture are three key elements in Molten that play together to illustrate the narrative,’ says Carissa Karamarko. Photo: Courtesy Carissa Karamarko
Magnolia and The Burning Heat by Carissa Karamarko. Photo: Carissa Karamarko
Pink Waratah vs. Pocket Knife (left) and A White Light Disco of Flannel Flowers by Carissa Karamarko. Photo: Claudia Lowe
Melbourne-based Carissa Karamarko explores the dream-like state of the imaginative mind for her latest exhibition, Molten, at Saint Cloche gallery in Sydney.
Delving deep into the themes of manipulations of the mind and memory, the artist celebrates stepping out of reality and into the mind of the dreamer – an exploration of worlds within worlds, sinking deep into one's imagination.
‘Molten draws from a collection of personal experiences in which my propensity to daydream has transformed banal moments into extravagant narratives. It follows my journey down familiar streets, at familiar tables, and in familiar scenes all made new by an imaginative mind,’ says Carissa.
Within Carissa’s work is a honed focus on still life forms, with this exhibition she has moved beyond her usual style into a more abstract direction, striking a balance by fusing the two genres together.
‘Moving my work into an abstract space is something that I’ve really just begun to explore in Molten, as I felt it was the right subject matter to do so with. I think having a largely intuitive practice has allowed me to bring the two genres together in a way that is balanced and purposeful, the meshing of the two in these paintings is almost directly reflective of my process with its planning versus automatic nature,’ she says.
Carissa typically begins her process with a photograph, capturing moments or framing scenes she has curated. For Molten, she worked from both photographs and memory, ‘I allowed things that captured my attention to be distorted by my mind as I tried to recall them - the distortion of memories over time was essential to imbue the paintings with a sense of being encapsulated in one's own mind,’ she says.
Carissa’s practice employs the genre of still life to explore colour: intersecting different spheres and life experiences. Along with colour, movement and texture are three key elements in Molten that play together to illustrate the narrative.
‘I feel guided by colour and am almost led around the painting by it, it’s an expressive medium to me and almost a subject in and of itself. For me, colour holds information about memory, perception, feeling and I feel it is intrinsic to the existence of the object - hence why I don’t often paint objects exactly as they appear in real life,’ says Carissa.
A Stretched Out Morning In A Half Speed Vortex by Carissa Karamarko. Photo: Carissa Karamarko
The Bird And The Giant Daisy Garden/The Kitchen Window by Carissa Karamarko. Photo: Carissa Karamarko
“In Molten, colour primarily exists to represent the transition of the real to the imagined. It is to illustrate the ways in which the brain pulls an object into a reality of one’s own.”
Flannel Flowers Become The Rolling Storm (left) and A Simple And Quiet Manipulation Of The Mind by Carissa Karamarko. Photo: Claudia Lowe
MOLTEN AT SAINT CLOCHE
WEDNESDAY 13TH APRIL - SUNDAY 24TH APRIL
37 MacDonald Street, Paddington, Sydney
