There is something of the subtle trickster at play in Amber Boardman’s mythical paintings of human foibles. In her work, eye-catching, jewel-like hues and fleshy, earthy tonalities produce absurd portraits and wacky situations. Seducing us with sophisticated improvisations in juicy, wet-into-wet paint, comforting schadenfreude and a seemingly toddler-like sensibility, Boardman’s distinctly intelligent formal sensibility propels narrative’s capabilities. “Something is always happening in my paintings,” she says, establishing “images that incorporate both the dynamic and the static.”
Perspectives are skewed and flattened into fabulous patterns and impossible angles; bodies are stretched out and opened up – exhibited, transgressed and discussed. Intimacy is made public. Thus, she questions how each of us is defined by personal histories, cultural expectations and societal norms. The viewer is pushed psychologically to work a little harder, and not take a happy ending for granted. “I’m not afraid to put it all out there… my paintings are like going down a rabbit hole – I make the first mark and then follow it to see where it all will lead,” she says. We are left to process her darkly humourous method: she upsets the normal hierarchies of everyday appearances, and in the end, gives us a bit of compassionate catharsis.
Amber holds a Bachelor of Fine Art in Studio Art from Georgia State University and a Master of Fine Art from the School of Visual Arts in New York. She exhibits her work both internationally and throughout Australia. In 2015 she received the Australian Post-Graduate Award from the University of New South Wales. In 2014 she received the Australia America Association’s Dame Joan Sutherland Fund Visual Arts Grant. Residencies have included William St Creative Tenancy Residency (2014) and Artspace (2013). Her work is held in numerous public and private collections. Carol Schwarzman
Image: Lake Doig (2015) acrylic on canvas, 91 x 71cm
