Young artist skills on show

Albany Senior High School student Cora de Vos has had her eye-catching painting Undercurrent selected to be part of the 2019 Young Originals Exhibition.

For the Statewide competition, her artwork will be exhibited with pieces by other public school students at the Edith Cowan University’s Gallery 25.

De Vos said she wanted to create a version of a self-portrait, inspired by two artists she had studied at school. “I love experimenting with different art media and techniques and decided to go for the gestural, expressive style of Australian artist Euan Macleod for the ocean, which kind of symbolises the varying thoughts and emotions within each person,” she said.

“In contrast to that I used a bit of the precision of 1900s artist Gustave Moreau for the design of a woman’s face in the midst of the ocean to symbolise outward beauty.

“I realise the woman doesn’t look like me, so it’s not literally a portrait of myself, but the overall message of the painting was that society needs to focus more on quality of character rather than perfection of looks.

“This thought is expressed in the way the woman's profile slowly takes on the painterly style of the background scene, creating unity between her inner and outer being.”

De Vos’ painting shows the ocean, which she said was something she thought would be a symbol of Albany and the rich coastline she loved.

“The way it can be so wild and so calm at the same time and how it’s ever-changing, like ourselves I guess, and it’s such a fun thing to paint in an expressive way,” she said.

“I’ve never done a painting like this before, so stepping out of my comfort zone was a bit nerve-racking but it was a really fun, relaxed and different style of piece to work on and I’m super-happy with the result.”

Successful entries can be found at the Young Originals 2019 website, which launches tomorrow at youngoriginals.com.au.