CHARMAINE PIKE

The paintings of Charmaine Pike allude to the remote landscape, its geographical features and natural formations, embedded or rather personified with human emotion. Her use of bold lines, form and colour probe deep into the human condition, dealing with psychological tensions within the self and the environment we inhabit.

PAINTINGS SUCH AS ‘THE SORROWS’ AND ‘AUBADE’depict a landscape that seems real yet unfamiliar, suggestive of place yet void of notable landmarks. Is it an intermediate state?

I’m more interested in the substance of a place – the feeling of it. When it comes to the forms it’s perhaps my early connection with Surrealism. I’ve always been interested in the absurd, the Dadaists, Artaud and Kafka … and maybe I’ve read too many post-apocalyptic genre novels and sci-fi stories but it’s all