Catherina Chin

Artist Statement

Catherina’s paintings are initially based on intuitive mark-making on canvases and emotional response to classical music, which extended to the materiality of painting, the surface of the painting, and the spiritual response to lived experiences. Inspired by Deconstructivism, a postmodern architectural movement. The process of self-directing helped her contextualise the application of colour and form, emphasising multiplicity, fragmentation and ambiguity of abstract painting, while playing with the juxtaposition of the geometric and the gestural. Rejecting linear narratives and traditional hierarchy. Catherina expresses herself on the canvas by contrasting colours, contrasting emotions; euphoric, melancholic; love, hate. Derived from her rational and subconscious mark-making. The colour palette consists of a vibrant contrast of hues, tones and colours, which also gives the viewer a free interpretation, inviting the viewer to immerse oneself in the artwork. Texture and opacity allow her to play around with depth, layering gestural marks after gestural marks to build up a succession of transitory marks until a final composition is achieved. As Catherina has developed the paintings further, it has become her second nature to let the pigments and mediums devour each other, embracing the beauty in chaos. This method of making work is quite therapeutic and poetic in the sense that it allows her to process things, heal her psyche and help improve her mental well-being.