In this exhibition, Carolyn V. Watson delves into the complex interplay between risk and opportunity through a meticulously curated series of tactile forms and objects. Moving beyond traditional visual appreciation, Watson’s work now invites physical interaction, fostering a profound, unspoken dialogue between the viewer and the artwork.
Crafted primarily in black, each piece is punctuated with vibrant accents—garlands, buds, openings, and floral motifs—that subtly disrupt conventional perceptions of material and form. These substantial structures invite intimate, hands-on engagement, encouraging viewers to connect with their weight, texture, and presence. By initiating this sensory experience, Watson invites reflection on the nuanced emotional and sensory dimensions that emerge within the shared space of art, challenging and enriching the viewer’s relational experience with each piece.
For over 20 years, Carolyn V Watson has used her art practice to comprehend and chronicle her life history and experiences. Primarily self-taught, Watson was initially committed to an intense drawing and painting practice before experimenting with three-dimensional making to expand her art and her private ruminations. In contrast to the purposeful looseness and immediacy of her drawings, Watson’s sculptural responses make explicit the contemplative and multilayered nature of her work. Drawn to a grotesque feminine aesthetic, she employs labour-intensive methods such as hand-stitching, carving, moulding and assemblage to draw out physical embodiments of her deep thought processes and highlight connections between her inner world, her home environment, and the natural world. Cornerstones might include personal memory, natural history, gothic imagery, or the lush and unruly garden surrounding her studio.
Watson shifts between two and three-dimensional modes while working, resulting in bodies of work with distinct rhythms that repeat, echo and mimic reference points throughout. Totemic and ritualistic, they exist in the indeterminate space between the familiar and the foreign, the natural and the human-made.
Carolyn V Watson is an alum of the Queensland College of Art. Highly Commended in the inaugural 2021 Lethbridge Landscape Prize and a dual finalist in the 2020 Tom Bass Prize for Figurative Sculpture, she has won multiple awards at the Brisbane Sculpture Festival (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016) and Brisbane Rotary Art Spectacular (Won – 2016, Finalist – 2017), and been a finalist in numerous awards including the Moreton Bay Regional Art Awards (2019, 2017, 2016, 2013, 2011); the Marie Ellis OAM Drawing Prize (2015, 2013, 2010); the Prometheus Visual Art Award (2011, 2009) and the Lethbridge 10000 Small Scale Art Award (2015), the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award (2012) and the John Fries Memorial Art Prize (2012). Included in the Churchie National Emerging Art Prize in 2008, her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia since 2006.
OPENING HOURS The gallery is open during exhibition periods. Please check the exhibitions page for opening dates. Monday & Tuesday by appointment Wednesday to Friday, 10 am – 5 pm, Saturday, 10 am – 1 pm
GALLERY HOURS — Paradise Gloss — Next Edition Artwork deliveries: Email or text/call us on 0409549447 to arrange a drop-off time. Opening night: Thursday, 12 December, 5 – 8 pm
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COLLECTING YOUR ARTWORK All purchased works can be collected on the last day of the exhibition or please call or text us on 0409549447 to arrange a time that suits you. If you would like to collect your artwork purchase before the close of the exhibition, let us know, and we can arrange an early pick-up.