Lara Karasavvidis’ current exhibition explores the significance of place; inspired by the coastal town of Port Fairy. Over the course of many visits, Lara developed her own way of seeing and interpreting the landscape, observing the minutia of naturally occurring patterns, texture and shapes. This collection of remembered marks informed the direction of Lara’s exhibition as she fragmented and reconfigured these aspects to create a unique body of work that breaks away from the traditional picture plane.

The organic shaped works in Marking Memory appear to reference topography, clouds, mountains and rock formations whilst both aerial and ground level views of the environment are evident in the rectangular pieces, a welcome contradiction in these abstracted representations of landscape.

We have curated this exhibition to reflect the dynamism within Lara’s paintings. Framed works are alternated between the laser cut shapes that appear to hover, casting incredible shadows in the space. Marking Memory is a is a contemplative and quietly beautiful show we are proud to have hanging at Boom.

"In this body of work, I have sought to capture the coastal landscape in Port Fairy on Gunditjmara land. 

I pay homage to one specific site, ‘The Passage’ - a place in which I walk to feel grounded and connected.  When I am back in the bustle of the city, I experience the images of this site as fleeting abstractions, the shaky silhouette of a rock, the shape of a small bush or the rough diagonals of grass. In my paintings, I hope to share that sense of closeness and distance by creating contradictory spatial relationships.

The fragments of the landscapes depicted are simultaneously seen from below and above, near and far, at night and during the day - snapshots of memories that can’t fully be grasped.
 

As the title of the exhibition suggests, mark making is essential to my practice. The physical expression of drawing, carving, etching and painting is a visible component of my work. The tactility of the mark is intended to be akin to the tactility of the landscape. Hopefully these marks communicate a felt or experiential quality. I am also interested in the layering or interplay between marks as they sit on the surface in different ways, an interest that began with my studies in printmaking. To achieve this, I employ multiple techniques including monoprinting, lino printing, sgraffito into wet paint, painting with acrylic and drawing with pencils, oil pastels, and posca. 

In this new series, I have tried to break free from the confines of the rectangular picture plane so that the shape of the object is in sympathy with the landscape being depicted, creating the form of a memory."

Lara Karasavvidis is an artist and secondary school art teacher from Melbourne.

After undertaking a Diploma of Visual Art at Swinburne University she went on to complete a Bachelor of Fine Art (Printmaking) at the VCA in 2007, winning the Port Jackson Press award upon graduation. Since 2009 she has thrown herself into her teaching career and only recently returned to art making in 2020. Over the past three years, she has shown at Luone in Port Fairy, Boom Gallery in Geelong and Brunswick St Gallery and Forman Art and Picture Framing in Melbourne.