Catriona Secker - Biomorphic

About

Biomorphic is the latest collection of paintings by Catriona Secker . In this series, Secker continues her exploration of the natural world, adding new elements of symmetry, either to organisms within the pieces or to the compositions overall. Opening reception: Saturday, Mar 26th, 6 - 9pm. This exhibition will run from Mar 27th to Apr 17th and will coincide with Lucid 2022 . Secker’s approach to depicting nature is to focus on the small and hidden. She uses old natural history illustrations as inspiration and source material. These illustrations usually feature microscopic organisms and small invertebrates. She works intuitively, often finding herself drawn to something about a particular illustration which provides a starting point, and in the process of creating an artwork, that thing becomes transformed or sometimes combined with another organism to become a new, imaginary life form. Secker’s work often touches upon processes in nature such as growth and reproduction. The main theme that runs through her work comprises consciousness and connections in nature—the idea that down to the cellular level, there is consciousness, even if it is completely beyond the limits of our own awareness. Somehow, that consciousness is the force that connects all things to each other: we are not as separate from all life and matter in this world as we think we are. Secker is also fascinated by how certain shapes and forms recur repeatedly among organisms that are biologically diverse, which also suggests the connectivity of all things. Biomorphic follows the process and themes mentioned above. The symmetry added is important to Secker, as it also seems to point to the connectivity of things in the natural world. The work in this show is also very focused on form. It has been a chance for Secker to engage, play and animate forms which she is instinctively attracted to. Catriona Secker is a Sydney-based artist and teacher. She graduated from the University of NSW with a bachelor of