Act Four : The Dream Painting

Gold Coast (Yugambeh Country)-based artist Natasha Zraikat uses a carefully constructed aesthetic vocabulary of fantastical elements and deliberately executed realism to visually rekindle man’s connection with the natural world. Born in California to Jordanian and Ukrainian-Russian parents, Natasha immigrated to Australia in the early ‘90s where she has lived ever since. Natasha’s earliest artistic memories include drawing, studying and surrounding herself with animals. This lifelong affinity has seen Natasha grow into a passionate environmentalist, and these themes have spilled into her work in recent years as her concerns about the state of the natural world continue to intensify. Natasha is a self-taught artist, having taken one year in Italy for informal artistic development where she won First Prize in the City Wide Art VIII Competition in Florence. Her work has since been included in numerous other art prizes, including the SBS Portrait Prize, Metro Gallery Art Award, Lethbridge 20000 Art Prize, Williamstown Contemporary and the Art Lovers Australia Art Prize. Natasha’s artwork is currently featured on the Beautiful Bizarre artist directory and she was recently awarded Second Prize at The Art of Imagination competition/exhibition at Petrie Terrace Gallery in Brisbane. Her work has also been featured in Art Edit Magazine, House and Garden UK, Precinct Magazine, Raw Ink and Gelmag. Natasha’s paintings bring us to a place where realism and imagination meet. Through brilliant, oil-painted sky scapes, narrative portraiture, allegory and symbolism, her works offer an insight into the artist’s innermost musings. Building upon previous years in contemporary portraiture, Natasha’s more recent works look beyond the physical subject - diving into the realms of deeper consciousness and the human relationship with the natural and spiritual worlds. The artist often uses herself as model and muse, in part as a matter of immediate practicality, but more so to add creative depth to the messages that she conveys through her art. Being an aerial silks enthusiast and yoga teacher, Natasha welcomes the added layer of meaning this physicality brings to her creative process and expression. She is fascinated with nature, humanity and how the two interconnect. The animal allegories found in her work represent various parts of her own psyche and how she perceives reality, exploring our intrinsic connection to our natural surroundings.