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