Memoryscapes exhibition opening event 6pm Wednesday 4 October 2023

Katrina Barter, The pinnacle, 2023, graphite and acrylic on primed cotton, 100 x 100cm.

In Memoryscapes Katrina Barter brings together a series of 1 x 1 metre abstract acrylic paintings on primed and unprimed cotton, linen and jute canvases. Inspired by abstract expressionist and conceptual lineages, including North American artists Agnes Martin and Sol Lewitt, Barter uses methodical, repetitive processes to create her works of undulating compositions of colour and light. The paintings are based on observational photographs of moments and places that the artist has taken over the last seven years.

These abstracted translations create mesmerising optical effects for the viewer, at the same time encouraging contemplation on the nature of memory as something comprising elements both real and fictional.

For Barter, the grid sits at a junction between abstraction and reality—both of the world and outside it. In some works, the grid reinforced by the negative space between painted squares, shimmers and produces optical illusions, while in other works it can be perceived as a solid and unyielding counterpoint to the fields of colour it holds. Through varied approaches to colour, scale and rhythm, Barter is interested in testing the underlying flexibility of the grid and how it can be used and understood, both as a structure within paintings and as a metaphor for the nature of human consciousness.

Katrina Barter is an artist based in Canberra, Australia. She is a Canberra business owner, current studio tenant at ANCA Dickson, and holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts majoring in Textiles from the ANU.