Statement
2017
My artistic practice focuses on exploring the materiality of my concepts and medium, aiming to observe and articulate aspects of the human condition, identity and the complexity of patterns occurring naturally in the world around us.
I use a variety of media, mainly photography, video, drawing, printmaking, textiles and site-specific installation to explore the recurring theme of conflicting elements, for example, rigid control of structure versus the irrepressible fluidity of natural form. I push the limits of a medium with intensive experimentation to create a seemingly sensory environment, confusing the viewer's sense of the experience of materiality and space.
The idea of duality recurs in my practice through themes of identity, individual and social concepts. The series of photos HAND DRAWING is part of a drawing project focussing on self-identity. The temporary, removable line drawings are using my skin as an alternative canvas in a personal response to permanent mark-making on the skin, like tattoos.
A concept that frequent my practice include subsurface markings in communal swimming pools and the visual shifts that bodies create within these spaces. This ongoing body of work is informed by my interest in the geometric aesthetics of pools, the use of form and line within the limits of structure, and the concept of fluidity. I recreate and captures the nature of the water, and I have pushed this theme conceptually and materially with photographic and video works. I experiment with industrial materials and digital prints on aluminium composites, ceramic tiles, acrylic and Tyvek and re-appropriate these unusual materials and then transform the exhibition spaces into conceptual pools.
Lane Mark, Pool Sketch, bundle #1 is an example of a new direction and originate from the swimming pool-works but concentrate primarily on the material and texture and pattern itself.
Artist Bio
Gera Woltjer originally from the Netherlands is currently based in Perth. She has completed a Master of Fine Art in Education and holds a Graduate Certificate in Coordination of Cultural and Artistic Design, University of Utrecht.
Woltjer has received a number of grants and won various art prizes. She has exhibited in group and solo shows in Australia, the Netherlands and Germany.
Her work is represented in collections including; Artbank Australia and the Artists' Books Collection, State Library of Queensland.
Woltjer’s artistic practice aims to articulate aspects of the human condition, identity and the complex organic patterns of fluid surfaces.
Her practice focuses on materiality explored through processes such as photography, video, drawing print making, textiles and site specific installations. The symbolic nature of Woltjer's work presents an intellectual and emotional engagement for the viewer.
Gera often pushes the limits of a medium with rigorous experimentation. In this way, she attempts to create a seemingly sensory environment, confusing the viewer's sense of experience of materiality and space.
Gera's identity as a dual citizen is conveyed throughout her art in multiple ways. The distinction of duality recurs in her practice through themes of identity, individual and social concepts, and she often discusses the confusion of belonging to two countries.
A concept that frequents Gera's practice includes subsurface markings in public swimming pools and the visual shifts that bodies create within these spaces. She re-imagines the space to highlight the ever-changing material nature, the potentiality and the tension that exists within a body of water. A mammoth series, involving eight exhibitions from 2015-2023, is C R O S S I N G which continues Gera’s exploration of the qualities and experiences that are found in swimming pools.