Stark Raven
Sabine Von Graz
- Sitter: Ginger Von Graz
- Medium: Arylic and Oil on Canvas
- Dimensions: 91cm x 91cm
- Representation: This artist represents themselves
About the artwork
In this portrait, the artist’s teenage daughter, Ginger Von Graz, lies in a bathtub holding a shower head to her ear like a telephone. Eyes twinkling, she looks amusedly at a crow standing on the bath’s edge. A swirling pattern of black and white on one side and a magical forest full of fantastical creatures in the background creates a sense of magic and mystery, pulling the viewer into an imaginary world where reality and fantasy intertwine. The artwork tells a story of “Ginger walking a line between Peter Pan wonder and adult realities… Ginger has been the muse for many of my paintings, but there’s a particular expression she makes, a kind of wide-eyed, astonished look, as if to say, ‘Is this for real?’ I absolutely love it. It was important to me to capture that look in this portrait.”
At its heart, the painting is a tender celebration of a mother’s love and wonder for her child.
About the artist
Sabine Von Graz is a Brisbane based painter whose Austrian heritage and training under her mother, acclaimed artist Gerlinde Bartelt-Stelzer, strongly shape her practice. Blending surrealism, abstraction and realism, she creates paintings that merge mythic and contemporary themes, blurring the boundaries between past and present. She has exhibited widely in solo and group shows in Australia and abroad.
