Kirsty Warman is an artist, an illustrator and creative based in Dunedin, New Zealand, graduating with a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Dunedin School of Art in 2012. 

Around this precious world,

I observe crude rhetoric and regard the current provocative language threatening civil liberties. I think about the marginalised peoples and contemplate life journeys that metaphorically can be perilous and deadly, perhaps beautiful and uplifting, from the humdrum to the bright lights. 

these painted figures are a reflection of my thoughts.

My work considers the human condition. It explores a subject by challenging the idea of an identity which can appear absolute and palpable, whilst being inhibited with uncertainty and the limitations of a memory. It is beyond the movement of an abstract painterly thread that the statement strives to free itself from the traditional realism and historical conventions of figurative painting. In allowing a single mark to inform the next in the orchestration of the ground, with the impetus to discover figurative painting through a recurring craft towards abstraction. Essentially, there is a struggle between chance and critical awareness on the painted canvas characterising the perception that the figure cannot be without abstraction, nor can it be determined without the arbitrary. The mark making is purposefully derived from a surrealistic drawing process which runs parallel to the painting practice. Incessantly, the lines and pattern from within the drawings appear in the painted works allowing the viewer to observe beyond the literal confines a reconstructed identity. 

Exhibitions and Reviews

2018 Woven, the artist's room, dunedin
2017 christmas XVII. The artist's room, dunedin
2017 in the hope these sentiments ricochet. Kina artspace, new plymouth
2017 Take off your shoes. Gallery Thirty Three, Wanaka
2017 Miscellanea. joint show alongside Jane Shriffer, The Artists Room, Dunedin. Review James Dignan, Miscellanous, ODT Art Seen 13 April'17
2017 The Big Picture 7x paintings, 7 x artists. Gallery Thirty Three, Wanaka
2016 Christmas Show 500 x 500 mm. Gallery Thirty Three, Wanaka
2016 New Works. Gallery Thirty Three, Wanaka
2016 12th Birthday Show. The Artist Room, Dunedin
2016 Group Exhibition. Colour. Soul Gallery Hamilton
2016 A Spool of Pink Thread. The Artist's Room, Dunedin. Review James Dignan, A Spool of Pink Thread, ODT Art Seen 25 February ‘16
2015 Parnell Gallery Christmas Exhibition, Auckland
2015 Art South Otago Exhibition and Trustpower Art Awards, Balclutha
2015 East Gore Art Centre Project, Gore
2015 11th Birthday Show. The Artist Room, Dunedin
2015 Castles in the Air, Solo. The Artist Room, Dunedin. Review James Dignan, Castles in the Air, ODT Art Seen 26 February 2015
2014 10th Anniversary. The Artist Room, Dunedin
2014 Paperworks X. The Artist Room, Dunedin
2014 I See. Warman Exhibition Studio, Dunedin
2014 Hellcats Salon des femmes group. Dowling Street Studios, Dunedin
2013 27 Artists. Warman Exhibition Studio, Dunedin
2012 Menagerie. Warman Exhibition Studio, Dunedin
2012 Graduate of Dunedin School of Art with a Bachelor of Visual Arts
2012 Parklife SITE 2012 Dunedin School of Art Graduate Show, Dunedin

Textiles

.... it has been a creative thinking and learning performance to get to the moment where I began printing the drawings onto fabric. Each drawing individually lends itself to exist and evolve onto something other than paper. To give you an impression, I draw when I am not working. There is no rhyme or reason for the pattern or what form eventuates, the drawings are very tactile in nature, which interestingly, imparts onto the fabric the flash of embroidery. 

Other than contacting myself directly, my lovely stockists of the textiles are,

Found My Way, Invercargill. Email melissa@foundmyway.co.nz or simply tel+0064(3) 217 7706.

Gifted Design Store, Wanaka. Email info@gifteddesign.co.nz or simply tel+0064(3) 443 2035.