Katrina O’Brien

Australian Artist

Born 1984.

Katrina O’Brien is a full-time artist from Australia with a studio practice spanning over 15 years. She is based in the Illawarra, NSW, just south of Sydney.

Her paintings and drawings cross the realms of abstraction and expressionism, with gestural and intuitive mark making that is heavily influenced by music. Mark making is a fundamental part of the work, with music guiding the initial marks on the paper or canvas. Katrina is drawn to the unseen and seeks to explore sounds, dreams, thoughts and experiences through painting and drawing.

“A sound can present itself as a rich landscape that I feel my way through. The sound becomes a story, the story becomes a painting, the painting becomes a sound. Drawing for me is a dance with the paper.”

The works weave in and out of being poetic and musical, into places of narrative. Paintings appear almost as landscapes, then morph into a place that is lyrical and abstract. There is a dreamlike quality to the works, not wanting to be held down into any one set genre or thing, drifting between music, poetry, narrative and landscape. They are expressive and considered at the same time.

Katrina is represented by Curatorial and Co art gallery in Sydney, NSW Australia. Her artworks are held in collections across Australia and around the world. Katrina has held multiple solo and group exhibitions within Australia.

For sales and general enquiries, please visit the contact page.

For other images and videos of Katrina’s process, please visit this Instagram page.