Catrin Frires is a New Zealand painter and drawer born in Huntly. She was raised in Tokoroa by her Dutch Indonesian Father who as a teenager during WW2 spent four years in a concentration camp in Indonesia, for most of Catrin’s childhood he was ill from a rare tropical disease so she and her Waikato born mother used art as an escape. ‘It affected the way I look at life and my work’ she says. Catrin has a keen eye for colour and subtle detail and themes, self taught, her work includes beautifully muted scenes of the New Zealand landscape and detailed charcoal and paper portraits. Catrin loves working with mixed media, and she finds charcoal a very malleable, almost sculptural medium. She is inspired by the work of Alberto Giacometti and Kathe Kollwitz. Her work reflects an empathetic and symbolic view from her upbringing and experiences travelling and living this side of the equator including Auckland, Queensland and Melbourne. Catrin currently resides in Maungaturoto with Husband Grant, their cats Kumi, AK and little dog Boston.
Beautiful work Cuz ( your Mumma would have been so proud) x