A new exhibition by a local artist exploring the personal journey of the creator through light, colour and texture opens at Big Boom gallery space this month.
Opening on February 22, Jan Juc artist Rowena Martinich will present Summer Electra, 14 works tracing her exploration of technique that are intrinsically informed by life outside the studio.
The show is her third at the Newtown gallery, with the space itself part of the creation of the works.
Ms Martinich, who has worked alongside interior designers to design murals and installations, said the size of Big Boom gave her the chance to “activate the space” with her paintings.
“I really love that gallery space, and I felt it was such a great opportunity to be able to create a large body of work that can sit within that space,” Ms Martinich said.
“(The works) are quite big, they’re quite immersive. If you’re standing in front of one hanging on the wall, it would be taller than you. So you could view it from a distance as a big artwork, but when you get up close there are lots of fine details within the painting.”
She said the exhibition, named after her daughter, was not intentionally trying to express anything specific, but naturally reflected her life outside of the studio, including her experience of motherhood and the coastal environment she lived in.
“When you’re painting you’re investing a lot of yourself and your personality into your work, so it’s quite a private, emotional process,” she said.
“I’m not trying to represent anything, as such. But everything else that’s happening around you sort of makes its way into a painting.”
Opening celebrations for Summer Electra will be held at Big Boom on February 24.
