Amber Stokie, 'Layers Of Life'
Amber Stokie's latest solo exhibition continues her exploration of the fine line between representation and abstraction. Marking the experience of being human through building up the surfaces of her works, balancing colour, composition and meaning. Amber's paintings and drawings are so beautiful, we are excited to exhibit these works at Boom.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Amber Stokie describes her latest body of work as a reflection of her own emotional journey, both as an artist and as someone navigating the complexities of life. Her work draws from personal experience, but always with an awareness of something bigger - a sense of the shared, often unpredictable rhythm of being human.
Using biomorphic forms, and personal symbolic iconography, she explores her subject through a visual language that blurs the line between figuration and abstraction. The result is a series of dreamlike spaces that invite viewers to engage their own imagination within the ambiguity. Each work evolves naturally as she pushes their expressive potential.
"The collection of drawings for Layers Of Life began with simple body outlines that I cut, folded, and traced repeatedly. Initially I took inspiration from Matisse’s “Cut-Outs”. Through this hands-on process, some shapes started to shift - resulting in more organic, plant-like shapes. I began thinking of these as “inward bodies”. Others kept their original, more recognisable form - what I call the “outward bodies”. Together, they reflect how we move between inner and outer states of self."
BIO
In 2018 Amber Stokie completed a Master of Fine Arts with distinction at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
Stokie has been exhibiting regularly in group and solo exhibitions since 2009. From 2006 to 2009 she established and curated regular exhibitions at Artasis Gallery (ARI) in Richmond. Throughout this period, she also completed many private and corporate commissions and participated in live painting performances at venues that included the National Gallery of Victoria and Chapter House in Melbourne, VIC. She has been a finalist in the Williamstown, Stanthorpe and Blacktown prizes and has won “people’s choice” at AGENDO emerging art award. In 2016 she was recipient of the ADFAS Young Artist Award for her RMIT MFA work, the next year she successfully applied for a solo exhibition at the Wodonga Public Art Gallery. Stokie has been awarded multiple grants for her work from both Council and RMIT University. In 2019 she was commissioned to perform a key work “Are You An Artist Too” from her Masters studies at the 2019 Montsalvat Arts Centre in Melbourne.
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