Artist Profile — Andrea Bolima
Born in the Philippines and raised in Aotearoa / New Zealand, Andrea Bolima's work tends to effortlessly mimic her natural surroundings. Now based in Naarm / Melbourne, Bolima finds herself traversing a different colour palette as she explores her new backyard. Andrea is particularly drawn to the changing colours of the natural world, the drapery of flora and fauna, the twists and turns of branches – all suggesting the ebb and flow of time. As a result, her works explore how colour can embody the things around us.
Bolima's earthy and floral portrayals are also inspired by the tactile experience of the painting process. We can see this material influence through the interaction between colour, texture and different gestures. Her artworks often reveal the layering and de-layering of forms as structural elements, which slowly unfold and sometimes deteriorate. Much like the layers that emerge and fade away in her paintings, so too are the learned behaviours Andrea has developed and the new behaviours she is acquiring. Andrea paints intuitively to allow new possibilities to open up as she continues to explore different ways of perceiving colour. Through experimentation, she is able to create new ways of how the concept of colour can be perceived.
About ‘After Blue’:
“After Blue is a series of works inspired by my ongoing exploration of the sensation of the natural world and the changing colours that occur around us. These changes can also be seen / felt in the fluctuating temperatures that surround me while painting through the combination of warm and cool tones. The canvas acts as a melting pot of blues and oranges as the weather changes. I ask myself, ‘what can the interaction between colour, texture and different painting gestures tell us about the way nature interacts’? What can this tell us about how we embody the changes around us?
There is a constant play between the forms that emerge through the application of paint that builds up over time, as well as the forms that have been pushed into the background. I am interested in what this process can tell us about how time is constantly changing. I find myself in a constant negotiation while painting - what do I keep and what do I let go?” - Andrea Bolima
