Artist profile
Cally
Lotz
Melbourne based artist Cally Lotz is primarily known for her still life oil paintings. She is a formalist who values perceptual experiences and the visual strengths of the genre more than symbolism or content.
Cally Lotz completed an MFA (with Higher Distinction) in 2019 at RMIT Melbourne, a BVA (Hons) at The University of South Africa (UNISA) and attended Bath Academy of Art in the UK. Her work has been exhibited in South Africa, Germany, India and Australia. She has been the recipient of numerous residencies including Sandbox Studios Melbourne 2019-2020, AIR Vallauris France 2017 and St Vincent’s Melbourne 2014-2015. Her work is held in public collections including Sasol and UNISA in South Africa, and St Vincent’s in Melbourne.
Artist Quote
- My graduate work was exhibited by the University of South Africa at the Johannesburg Art Fair and then at Hyderabad in India, both of which I consider to be highlights in my career.
- Obtaining an MFA in 2019 with higher distinction from RMIT is a career highlight.
Artist Interview
What medium do you work with, and why have you chosen them?
I work with oil on canvas or paper, in the traditional genre of still life with a contemporary ethos. Still Life provides a context for me to develop a twin focus – on the one hand, the simple perception of objects, and on the other how I might use oil painting to respond to them. In this way it supports both realist painting and Abstraction.
How does your artwork get from initial concept to exhibition stage?
Employing an analytic style of painting, the objects I portray are not chosen for their intrinsic appeal or beauty, but for the potential they offer to me as a painter. My work is labour intensive and slow, a production that is totally opposed to how a picture is expected to be broadcast and received today. Painting the subject matter of a post-industrial society through slow artisanal production is a paradox, one that I find very interesting.
Can you tell us a little more about your creative working environment/studio?
I work in my studio at home in Hampton, Melbourne. Painting is a solitary experience, so I try to visit three to four current exhibitions a month with other artist friends.
