Carol Batchelor is an artist based in Melbourne, Australia.
Artist Statement:
My practice spans painting, drawing and collage with abstract oil painting being my central focus. I have a deep interest in non-objective forms relating to the metaphysical condition of our human experience. Much of my imagery explores states of in-between-ness, becoming or transition. For example, states such as those felt between presence and absence, time and timelessness, remembering and forgetting, stillness and motion, solid and void. There exists a quiet tension between what is and what is slipping away, a sense of loss and longing coupled with an awareness of our impermanence. In this way, the work poses questions relating to our sense of reality such as: Is something real because we see it, or does it exist beyond our perception?
Process:
Due to my interest in the metaphysical, my driving force is more internal rather than external. The process of my painting practice itself creates momentum and a dialogue between myself and the work where I respond to each previous mark or passage made using improvisation as a working methodology. By this I mean, these are not the kind of paintings or imagery that require preparatory sketches and studies to be completed before the work is produced. It is the process and medium of the paint (or drawing medium or collage) and what it does that is important: how it reacts, drips or perhaps blends; is sanded and layered; how relations exist in a state of flux, embedding traces of history and time into the surface. It is a process of uncertainty, the unknown and chance. This way I can surprise myself and make something I haven’t seen before.
Biography:
Growing up in rural locations in Tasmania and New South Wales, the early years were transitory and unstable.
A relocation to Melbourne in 1998 brought some stability and an opportunity to study art at RMIT University. In 2004, Batchelor obtained her Bachelor of Fine Art with Distinction and in 2006 her Master of Fine Art.
In 2010, she acquired a studio in Thornbury and has exhibited throughout Melbourne and interstate since 2003.
Batchelor has been involved in art and design education through various institutions in Melbourne since 2007 and currently teaches at Collarts (Australian College of the Arts) and RMIT University in Melbourne.
In 2025, Batchelor established her studio/gallery in Richmond
Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2022 Merge, West End Art Space, Melbourne
2020 Definite Possibilities, West End Art Space, Melbourne
2011 Nothing Like the Sun, Pigment Gallery, Melbourne
2009 Crossing the Line, La Trobe Street Gallery, Melbourne
2007 On Edge, 69 Smith Street, Melbourne
2006 Reading Between the Lines, First Site Gallery, Melbourne
2004 Snap to Grid, First Site Gallery, Melbourne
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2021
Of Colour & Light - Abstract Artists Biennial, West End Art Space
Transcendence, Grainger Gallery, Canberra
St Kevin’s Art Show, Melbourne
2020
Layers of Time, West End Art Space
2012
Abstract, Subject Matter Art Space, Hawthorn
2011
Calleen Art Award, Cowra Regional Art Gallery, Cowra, NSW
Prometheus Visual Arts Award, Gold Coast, Queensland
Project 1, The Gallery @ The City Library, Melbourne
2010
Becoming Clear, George Paton Gallery, Melbourne
2009
11 x 11, LaTrobe Street Gallery, Melbourne
Bell Arti, Chapman & Bailey Gallery, Melbourne
Salon Show, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Abbotsford
Waverley Art Prize, Waverley Woollahra Art Centre, Sydney
2008
Small Works 08, Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy
Tattersall’s Contemporary Art Prize, Williamstown
Stock Room, MARS Gallery, Port Melbourne
2006
MFA Graduate Exhibition, RMIT School of Art Gallery
Amid: Matter, Light & Place, Alliance Française Gallery, St Kilda
SIEMENS RMIT Fine Art Scholarship Exhibition, RMIT Gallery
8 x 10, Ten Year Anniversary Show, LaTrobe Street Gallery