Eyes Forward
Jasmine Skutela
30.08.24 - 03.09.24
Eyes Forward explores the tension between control and the anxiety the artist experiences in crowds. As an oil painter, she focusses on depicting mass movements of people from one destination to another, emphasizing the unease felt when walking among them or observing them. Often experiencing profound anxiety about making eye contact, fearing mutual acknowledgement.
The awareness of each person's struggles, joys, and aspirations is overwhelming, especially considering the world's 8 billion people. In enclosed spaces like rooms or stadiums, the artist sees the crowd as a unified 'hive mind' entity, but outdoors, individuality and disparateness become strikingly apparent as people head in different directions with their own agendas. By deliberately omitting details of the individuals her paintings attempt to capture the unsettling physical presence of the crowd.
A saccharin sweetness of colours within her painting brings out feelings of warmth and love for being a human, alive, but bright colours are also used in nature as a warning signal of danger.
Jasmine Skutela is a first-generation Australian living and working in Melbourne/ Naarm. She is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Victorian Collage of the Arts, focusing on oil painting. This is her first solo exhibition.
Room sheet available here.
Photography courtesy of Green Floor Gallery.