Katie Pickerell

Artist based in Leipzig

"The warrior" 2023
120x160cm
Acrylic on canvas

Current exhibitions

@Kunsttanker Leipzig

About

Artist statementThe figures in my paintings are called Flybitches. Their nudity and gender neutrality capture a sense of human essence, removing the idea of identity that is formed through individualism. They are autobiographical yet they could be anyone, they act as mirrors to the spectator. All Flybitches have the same face. Everyone has a personality, an ego and a conditioned mind, these are all things that die. What does not die is the essential self, the soul, the spirit, the consciousness, that exists, equally, in its absolute divinity, in every single one of us. No better or no worse from one another they bring humility. The sameness represents the oneness of the collective consciousness.Through the paintings an intuitive autobiographical narrative has unfolded. The early Flybitches were carefree, dancing on open airs, chilling on Cospudener See, Grilling in allotments or joyfully painting in the studio. Over time, as life unfolded the figures started to represent the essential matriarchal archetypes: “The Mother”,“The Martyr”, “The Mentor” "The virgin”,“The warrior” and “The goddess”.The paintings depict feminine looking bodies, they come from situations, dreams, visions and fantasies from my own life. Through the repetition of the nude figures I intend to reclaim the narrative of feminine bodies, to give them a stage in which to stand in their power and essence without having to be sexualised.My paintings started to shift when I became pregnant with my daughter. In the unexpectedness of what was to come I found myself painting abstract landscapes. I think of the abstract as an intuitive depiction of the psyche. I started to depict my Flybitch world, painted on top of these abstract landscapes, with parts shining through, a glimpse through windows and doors, depicting another world, an unknown future, or a hazy past. A window into the body of the Flybitch also appeared showing the growing foetus that would soon become part of my world. Previous paintings also started to appear within the interiors of present paintings giving a greater sense of depth and self reference.I am very interested in psychology and the subconscious. Painting has been and continues to be an intrinsic part of my personal healing journey. I am very interested in the creative process being something that connects one to source, whatever that may mean to each individual. Whether it is God, the universe or the self, these things are all related. After giving birth to my daughter I was struck by an overwhelming sense of love, joy and such an expansion of my heart, however, the flipside to that was that I was also struck by such an enormous sense of grief. I am interested in finding the balance between dualistic opposites as one can not exist without the other in forming something which is organic and whole.