Artist Statement 2008:-
My work with circles started in 1998; a quest to find out who I was. Perhaps because my father died that year I had immigrated to Australia the year before. I was truly separated from family, country and culture and the sense of loss and disorientation was amplified. This was the origin of my work with circles.

My grail took me to psychologists and shamans, spiritual teachers, the metaphysical and beyond; but nothing has revealed more about my Truth than the journey through my painting process in the last decade.

My paintings start as an uninhibited release of emotion, a place where I express freely. Then I use the circles to help me sort through. The wonderful part is that my circles are mine and mine alone. Likewise when others enter the paintings and move through the circles the experiences are theirs and theirs alone.

My hope is that my work may ignite in my audience new mental and emotional recognitions; a place to ponder and rediscover self in the privacy of your heart and mind, as well as with trusted others in discussion and debate.

We are never without circles; glorious circles are everywhere - in the eyes that see us, the center of flowers, interconnecting circles, wheels that turn, in the molecules that bind us and the spiraling cycles of our lives. I suspect that connection to self equals’ connection to all things.

My work with circles is a process of exploration and restoration to connection; to complete my circle perhaps. The self and the ‘selves’ within – the circles in my paintings represent self or the aspects of self.

Accessing the work
Look at yourself looking – what do you notice?

I ask my friends and patrons to try to observe themselves as they take in the visual stimuli: the colors, patterns, textures and compositions. Without judgment note your responses, your body, your emotions and how your mind reacts.

My art has been the vehicle by which I access and document my psychology. I have learned to innately trust the moment, my medium and see what we have created together. This is my direct gateway to the ever evolving discovery of truth. The visual happenings captured on the surface of the canvases offer clues and pathways deeper into the self.

‘Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the centre of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world.’ Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

Born:-
19 December 1969 South Africa

Education:-
1986: Completed TE in South Africa with distinctions in both Fine Art and History of Art
1987-8: University of Cape Town BA Architecture
1989-91: University of Cape Town Bachelor of Fine Art, Major History of Art

Experience:-
1992-96: Worked and later managed the family business dealing in art and jewelry. [Specializing in African art and contemporary South African art and design]
1996: Immigrated to Perth Australia
1996-2005: Started and directed Code Red Art Gallery and Code Orange Design

Caroline Christie has excelled in art and been painting since childhood. Between 1997 and 2004 painting had become secondary to running her well-established art gallery and reputable interior design business in Perth. Code was sold in June 2005 and Caroline is now working exclusively on her career as an artist.