STORY BY MAHMOOD FAZAL, PHOTOS BY CHRIS TURNER

Daylesford’s Black Gallery, might look like a toast to Cubism from the outside but on the inside, the paintings of Cristina Doyle marvel in the emotional marriage of colour and emotion. “I love the freedom of Abstract painters,” says Cristina. “I love that it didn’t have to relate to the real world. Their paintings have movement, they have energy.”  

As a kid growing up in Geelong, Cristina was seen holding one of three things; a pencil, a hockey stick or a paint brush. “I was always drawing and designing. By the time I was in secondary school, I knew I wanted to be an art teacher.” Cristina was looking to works by the Australian painter John Olsen, as well as Matisse and Picasso. 

Inspired by the surrealist idea that art should come from the unconscious mind, and by the automatism of artist Joan Miró, artists from New York in the 1940s like Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning, she attacked the canvas with gestural brush-strokes that give colour to a blend of intuition, impression and spontaneity. 

Having studied painting and printmaking at the university of Melbourne, Cristina was in pursuit of a creative career, “I used to be an art teacher, then moved into graphic design, video production and marketing. So everything always had a creative bent but I just wanted to create my own stuff,” explains Cristina. “I found that later in life I'm doing a lot more painting.”  

Last year, Cristina opened Black Gallery in Daylesford where she invites visitors to see her work and practice. When asked about how the region has influenced her method, she quips, “There’s no pressure on me in Daylesford, there’s no pressure to produce something that’s finished. I feel as though I've got more freedom to experiment. I have been applying collage to my work, using materials that are just laying around. Rather than sourcing from an art shop, I’m looking in cabinets.” 

In Cristina's painting ​Golidlocks Meets Robin Hood​ and ​Goldilocks Act Two, ​ the emotional trajectory of her early experimentations with Abstract expressions discover a narrative course that demonstrates political urgency. In the whirlwind depiction of Goldilocks, one interrogates the original narrative; why do we expect girls to be sweet and innocent? In Cristina’s dizzying portrayal of Goldilocks, the question is something like; why should she be still and objectified by our gaze? 

The artists from the region also inspire Cristina’s abstract approach, “There're great artists that live here like Kim Barter and Petrus Spronk who create beautiful things.” When asked about her style, she says, “painterly, broad, immediate, raw colour. I like to use one bright colour against another. Sometimes I like to do quick work, sketch with a paint brush onto handmade paper. Other times I like to put it on canvas. Or I’ll mix a lino print with crayon, charcoal and collage.” 

And Cristina wants to invite the community into her world of ideas and colour, “I’ve just launched a printmaking workshop, for groups of six. It’s a social experience as well as a learning experience. Attendees will learn how to design, cut and print their work on my beautiful printing press that I got from David Bromley,” she says with enthusiasm. “I’ll be putting on a lunch for them too, fresh seasonal produce from the area. And finally, they’ll learn how to frame their work before going home with a masterpiece.”

Blackgallery Daylesford 

0409 137 157 

blackgallerydaylesford.com

1 Hospital St, Daylesford