Description
‘Beneath’ by Natasha Zraikat
Artist: Natasha Zraikat
Title: ‘Beneath’
Medium: Oil on stretched canvas
Dimensions: 30″ x 20″ x 1.6″
Framing: Unframed – Ready to hang
Year of Creation: 2024
Artwork Will Ship From: Australia
About the Artwork:
“Painting myself as a sea creature is a return to my younger self – a girl who would channel her inner anguish into darkly-beautiful scenes of strange hybrid-like creatures. This work was created after the most recent of a series of life-changing events, including the passing of my father.
This is one of several recent works exploring both my inner and outer worlds – my concern for the greater human collective through emotions and symbols rooted in my own childhood. Water is symbolic of deep emotion, and even according to my astrological sign of Pisces, I can have a tendency to feel as though I am thriving and drowning in it all at once.
In this piece we see a part-human creature of the sea rising from the dark depths of the water, gasping at the surface for a breath of air. The cool blue tones beneath the surface shimmer in stark contrast to the bright, warm light of the world above. Unsure of where she belongs, she resides somewhere between the two worlds. A living contradiction – the creature exists in a place in which she cannot fully survive.” – Natasha Zraikat
About the Artist:
(Artist Bio)
Gold Coast (Yugambeh Country)-based artist Natasha Zraikat uses a carefully constructed aesthetic vocabulary of fantastical elements and deliberately executed realism to visually rekindle man’s connection with the natural world. Born in California to Jordanian and Ukrainian-Russian parents, Natasha immigrated to Australia in the early ‘90s where she has lived ever since.
Natasha’s earliest artistic memories include drawing, studying and surrounding herself with animals. This lifelong affinity has seen Natasha grow into a passionate environmentalist, and these themes have spilled into her work in recent years as her concerns about the state of the natural world continue to intensify.
Natasha is a self-taught artist, having taken one year in Italy for informal artistic development where she won First Prize in the City Wide Art VIII Competition in Florence. Her work has since been included in numerous other art prizes, including the SBS Portrait Prize, Metro Gallery Art Award, Lethbridge 20000 Art Prize, Williamstown Contemporary and the Art Lovers Australia Art Prize.
Natasha’s artwork is currently featured on the Beautiful Bizarre artist directory and she was recently awarded Second Prize at The Art of Imagination competition/exhibition at Petrie Terrace Gallery in Brisbane. Her work has also been featured in Art Edit Magazine, House and Garden UK, Precinct Magazine, Raw Ink and Gelmag.