ORACLEDEFICIT

This artwork was made in the wake of the devastating bushfires and the onset of the covid-19 pandemic. I wanted to make a painting that both transported me elsewhere - imaginatively speaking - and held me fast in a groundless, ambivalent space. I wanted the painting to mirror the lack of certainty - the inability of myself and others to predict what would happen next, hence the name 'oracledeficit'. I also wanted the painting to contain painting's most mesmeric and tantalising material qualities, as these can heighten the sense of the present when viewing an artwork.

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Natalie Mather is a Melbourne-based painter. Considering her paintings as small ‘worlds’ or ‘imaginary geographies’ of her own invention, Mather draws from various sources: narrative works, science fiction, geological imagery and historical architecture to build her fantastical visions. Mather has an unabashed love of colour, and she takes huge influence from the visual language of 1980s pop culture and design – born out of nostalgia for the bright and garish aesthetics she grew up with and around.

Graduating from the ANU school of Art in 2009, Mather worked in Canberra, Newcastle and Berlin before settling in Melbourne in 2014. Natalie has been a finalist in prizes such as the Churchie, Fishers Ghost Art Award and Macquarie Emerging Art Award. She collaborated with New Agency on a mural commission for MARS Gallery and Stonnington Council in 2020, and her work was featured in ArtEdit magazine’s ‘Ones to Watch’ segment. Natalie completed a Masters of Fine Art (Research) at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2021, and was a recipient of the Stuart Black Memorial Scholarship and Carolyn and Hans Varney Prize. She was a finalist in the Bayside Acquisitive Art Award in 2022 and again in 2024. Her work is held in private collections in Australia, New Zealand and Europe.