Rex

Rex is the very first foe you encounter in Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo. He looks friendly and is easily defeated, which is just what any new gamer needs as a child for a gentle launch into an ongoing hobby of video gaming.

For Charissa, the Super Nintendo was only allowed to come out during school holidays so those moments of playing are nostalgic and treasured memories. The memory of inserting the game cartridge into the console, flicking the on switch and hearing the "bee-bee-bee-bo-bee-bee-bee-bo" ringtone to say we're in business is trigger happy.

This piece came about slowly, built on layers upon layers of different mediums, colours, expression, reflections. Some hint of what lies beneath comes through here and there in etchings. Rex was just what the lumpy, textured green canvas needed to give it life with his bright red boots and toothy grin.

A gamer from the 1990s may also recognise the words and symbols scrawled in the background (the secret to defeating Rex shhh).

This character may not mean much to Charissa's kids at present as they are generation-Nintendo Switch, but it rightfully sits there where the fun is had.

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Charissa is a self-taught artist whose artistic style never really "grew up". She maintained her childish style of drawing through scribbles and doodles in the margins of her notebooks into the corporate world after graduating.

Since becoming a mum in 2013, Charissa re-discovered intuitive mark marking through her observing her children in their play. She is fascinated with the freedom and boundless imagination kids naturally possess in the creation of their works. They inspire her to be free in expression, colour and movement in combination with her 'left-handed state of mind' and abstracted perspectives.

In turn, the themes of her works are centered around her children along with a dose of nostalgia from her own childhood. She wants to gift fun and spark joy through her art.

A maestro once said "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." and she is determined to resolve this.