KAROLINA VENTER

Artist

Longing is an original oil painting on stretched linen, a bold statement for your home in celebration of nature and the human body. Every living creature on Earth is born naked, lives naked and then dies naked. What’s wrong with being naked and showing your boobs sometimes?
I am experimenting with new ways of abstracting my studies. The use of simple patterns, lines and dots are always interested me. As one of my profession is Textile Designer, I leant that they can express, rhythm, flow, energy, harmony, disharmony, movement and mood most importantly. This decorative and meaningful process of creating patterns comes to me very easily.

Why not to go with this flow? It might take me somewhere I have never been.

On the other hand, this is a colour experiment as well. I have only used white, orange and purple. I have mixed up large amounts of both of the base colours, because it looks much more organic than straight out of the tube. Then mixed them with each other and tinted with white.

I am very pleased with the result. It is bold and beautiful.

Breath is a new original oil painting on stretched linen. It is an experimental piece of my journey into abstract art. I am looking for that fine balance between reality and imagination. Between form and formless, depth and depthless, perspective and illusion, flat and textured. It is like trying to put the dance of life on the tip of the brush. Capturing something that is always changing. Pretty much impossible.

Old Man, Old Land

The hero of my painting is a quintessential Aussie man. The stubborn bastard. The freak. The weirdo. The odd one.
You know when this guy enters a room. He lives off the grid. He works hard. He'll get your car back on the road when you're broken down and helpless.
He will give you a drink, when you are thirsty. He is the one to risk his life to rescue animals from the burning bush. His skin is dried leather, like a permanent sunburn. Covered in tattoos, each with a great story to tell.

For sale. Original oil painting on marine-ply. Comes in a beautiful mahogany colour floating frame.
(H) 107cm x (W) 126cm x (D) 6cm

Blue haze is an original oil painting on linen, part of my large portrait series in 2019.

Who doesn’t like smoking hot chicks with tattoos?

I really enjoyed painting tattoos. And once more I worked of a reference image found on social media.

I reflect self-esteem, confidence, body image just like my previous painting, this one is of a girl in my imagination who just doesn’t give a crap.

Collector’s item.

Fertility is an original oil painting on marine-ply.

It is the first piece of a mini-series inspired by tattooed skin. I just love the dreads, the colours and texture. She is feminine and wise.

She represents lust and fertility, paralleling the attractive power of flowers blooming in a garden. The fertility of a garden is like the human mind. Both biological and mental – where creativity is born and nurtured. A place where thoughts can grow and manifest itself into something great and new, just as an offspring does.

Fertility is unframed and there is no wire across the board.

Earthling is an original oil painting based on a selfie, a reflection on social media.

It is often difficult to find models for certain poses with a certain character. Sometimes, I look for inspiration on the internet, but it is never as good working of a photograph then working from real life. I find most of the good quality images over manicured fashion or pin up photographs advertising an often unhealthy image of “perfect” people.

As a keen and committed young artist, I begun working as a portrait artist on the streets of Sydney, just as you see in Paris at the Montmartre. It was not a successful business. Nearly everyone I approached offering a portrait done of them said that they are not beautiful enough to get one.

However the Instagram, Facebook and generally all social media is full of selfies presenting much confidence.

So I began to question, how does social media affect our self-esteem. It may be a fake confidence and not a healthy one.

And there it was. The perfect selfie. I approached this beautiful lady of nature, if I could paint her photo and she said yes. I was super excited and began to paint.

Best enjoyed in your home. She is powerful.

Through the hills of Robbo

The inspiration for this original oil painting comes from my work commute from Kiama, through Jamberoo and then up the hill to Robertson. The beauty of driving this misty fertile land captures me. It is a magnificent gateway into the Southern Highlands – rainforests, rolling hills, babbling streams, cows and horses. If my car broke down and I had to walk it, then it might be a different story.

Sphinx the Gatekeeper is an original oil painting. The inspiration was an image I found surfing the internet. It is a piece of a series of animal portraits.

I found many people love cats. I thought why not to paint something that many enjoys. So I painted my own. There is an element of creepiness to it.

I really enjoyed painting the wrinkled skin and the bulging eyes. These cats are truly incredible looking, somewhat weird and elegant like an Egyptian cat.

I can not get sick of studying and redrawing them over and over.

Happy to take pet commissions!

My art looks much better on your wall than on the photograph.

Oracle is an original oil painting/mixed media that I created in 2018. She was inspired by a photo reference I found whilst searching new faces to practice and experiment with. I loved her profile and hair. It is always fun to paint beautiful hair, especially dreadlocks and braids. If only I had live models for my paintings. I am looking forward to a bigger studio space and some portrait commissions. Oracle started with the stitch work abstractly arranged. After stretching the canvas, I didn’t know what to paint. Then I remembered John Olsen saying… "Just play and take the line on a holiday and Let it Grow like a flower." So I finally started.
She is a medicine woman. Wise woman. Midwife. Shaman. Spiritual leader.
She came to guide me back to light. Original oil painting, mix media on stretched Belgian linen. Unframed. (W) 90cm x (H) 110cm x (D) 5cm

Fungi Season is an original oil painting from 2018. It is classic piece of my landscape exploration that I started a few years back. I began creating unusual textures and effects using a sewing machine and a variety of weighted fabrics. Coming from a fashion background, I have always been fascinated by all the different weaves, knits and textures of fabrics - as they make it possible to create almost anything with a bit of imagination and clever stitching. I really liked the way it worked with my chunky pallet knife gestures, so I kept pushing to see where it can take me. In Fungi Season, I followed John Olsen's advice, take the line on a holiday. We are hunters and gatherers.

For sale. Oil paint on canvas. (W) 80cm x (H) 120cm x (D) 4cm

Pug Daddy's started as an ongoing conversation about... What others think I should paint to be successful. My mother would often ask, "Why can't you paint kittens playing with a ball of yarn?" Others would say, "You should paint landscapes, that would definitely sell, everyone likes pretty beach scenes.” Two years ago, nearly everyone with an opinion told me to paint abstract. The best advice came from my partner Bryan, "Paint a pug. Just for fun..." After a quick scroll through Instagram I started thinking, serious crowds are going mad for anything pug. My goal was to paint one like nobody before - Pug Daddy.
Pug Daddy is an awakened dog. He is not sad, but accepting. Pugs are designed to be desired, incapable to survive without humans. The breeding of dogs for their looks is rather inhumane. Messing with nature to create freaks. But we're all freaks anyway.
Original oil painting on stretched linen. Ready to hang.
(W) 80cm x (H) 120cm x (D) 4cm

Black Magic was created in over 2 years. It had some different stages.

I began experimenting with pouring resins... as you do. Like many people, I like that abstract stuff - nice colours, organic shapes, swirls and bubbles.

This has been quite popular for many years so I had to have a go. I used one of my pre-stitched linens, heavy duty and chunky.

The first pouring wasn't really successful, but had some value. It must have been sitting untouched for some time. It was not until I needed some framing material when I found her again. When I saw it, I just knew I had to finish it, and I knew how. My intention originally was to keep it abstract, but then this lady appeared out of nowhere. It always happens when I purposefully try to stick with a genre.

It gave me a great chance to pull out my airbrush which works very differently to oils. I really enjoy that dreamy airbrush effect and the quick drying time of high flow acrylics but... my neighbours don't seem to enjoy it so much.

I finally completed it with glassing. Not just your normal glass, but I used this amazing surfboard resin to give the airbrush work some protection and a beautiful sheen. This product is called Sanded Australia.

As for Black Magic, she is the Femme Fatale, do not mess with her. You know she possesses that powerful love drive, but she can hate just as well.

Original artwork, mixed media on stretched linen. Stitch work, threads, acrylics, airbrush, resin, spray paint.

Afternoon Delight

I love creating classical oil portraits and checking out nude/erotic artists on social media.
Afternoon Delight was created for a Nude Art Prize. It is one of my more loose experimental pieces that I entered. Painted on my partner’s old-world- travelled-falling-apart skateboard. I really liked the idea of applying oil to something totally unusual. I used a palette knife to create chunky paint effects, forming big block-like shadow shapes. If you ever get the chance to check this one out in person, you will know what I mean when I say - little detail but packed full of expression. This one doesn’t have a story but… if I were to make one up, it’s about rays of sunlight filtering through afternoon fine linen creating a warm and peaceful ambience. So warm and peaceful that she comes out of the shower with no hesitation, air-drying to the sounds of sensual Afro-Cuban Jazz. She is daydreaming about something erotic. (W) 19cm x (H) 76cm

Self-portrait is one that I painted for an art prize in 2018. I didn't get selected to be a finalist and this made me hate it for a while. I guess this piece represented my feeling of despair.
Recently I came across it again and I found that it has many values. I loved the textures and how the stitches worked with the really thick palette knife marks on a larger scale.
I painted this one from a mirror in a garage and imagined that my mind is melting into the sky.
My goal was to get as real as possible, and just paint myself in my dirty clothes and messy hair just how I work every day. I haven'd done a self portrait for 9 years prior to this one, so it was challenging.
An artist doesn't want to paint themselves too pretty nor too ugly. I heard this from Julian Freud in a documentary and I liked it.
For sale. Original oil painting, on stretched canvas.
(W)80cm x (H)120cm x (D)4cm

Sudan is the name of the last male Southern White Rhino to ever exist on Earth. Since I was a child, I have been very much interested in protecting the environment, the flora and fauna. I feel a deep sadness every time a species disappears from the face of the planet due to human impact.
This extinction was a big one, as people seemed to pay a bit more attention to this absolutely majestic creature. But it was already too late to protect them. My painting is a remembrance and salute to the lineage of this amazing being. I imagine Sudan to be roaming the heavenly fields, covered in tall green grass till the end of time. Original artwork from 2018. Created as a part of an animal series.

For sale. Stitch work, textile modification and oil paint on stretched Belgian linen.
(W) 90cm x (H) 110cm x (D) 4cm

Tuned is part of an ongoing project that I started about 7 years ago. It is a conscious exploration in capturing intimacy, the acts of love and sensuality. Erotic art has always excited me. I think this curiosity to see others having sex - the act of watching… through a keyhole, unseen, is the reason why porn is so popular. That is why it is so exciting to capture a glimpse of someone else's joy and intimacy, whilst reflecting on my own. It is very difficult to find live models for this kind of art, and finding photo references can be quite disturbing. However, I would love to paint more of this kind of tasteful erotic art - a kind of soft porn. I would be stoked to paint your sexy bedroom painting as I am always down for commission works.
For sale. Oil paint on screen-printed, stretched canvas.
(W) 90cm x (H) 110cm x (D) 4cm

Little Mermaid is an original oil painting on manipulated stretched linen. I have been experimenting with creating unusual textures, that have never been done before. I use a sewing machine to enhance abstraction by wrinkling, folding and stitching the linen. I love the play of light on these fabric folds and wrinkles as they compliment the thick paint beautifully. The sea has countless creatures of all shapes, forms and sizes. Mermaids are built for the sea. This is but a glimpse of their pain when forced to sit for a painting on land.

My local sunset viewing spot. It inspires me to paint a new landscape every single time I get up there and its less than a 5 minute drive from my home.
These dry stone walls around Kiama are special, probably the oldest, most historical remains made by the white man in the Illawarra region. Original oil painting on Belgian linen, no additives or impasto just beautiful paint. It includes textile manipulation, created by a sewing machine and different weight fabrics.

For sale. Sunset Point is in a charcoal floating frame.
Ready to hang.
(W) 64cm x (H) 93.5cm x (D) 6cm

Night Visitor is based on my partner's dream of a woman. His experience was so fresh and detailed, it inspired me to capture this mysterious woman. I was very poor at the time and had no money for linen. Luckily I had saved these beautiful fabrics that I had designed and screen-printed in 2010 during my Design and Fabric Printing course at Ultimo, TAFE. I remember how much I enjoyed immersing in what screen-printing has to offer to an artist - repetition, crisp detail, accuracy, transparent and translucent inks all coming together to make unimaginable effects. I began a series of paintings using these printed canvases and they work very well with the fresh brush stokes. I decided to keep 'Night Visitor' with a slightly unfinished, rugged look allowing the organic patterns to shine through the oil.
For sale. Original oil painting, on screen-printed, stretched canvas.
(W) 90cm x (H) 110cm x (D) 4cm

Whenever I try to grow coriander, tomatoes seem to pop up everywhere.

- Karolina Venter

COMMISSIONS AND ENQUIRIES

Kiama NSW 2533, Australia

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