Applying paint directly to the canvas with her hands, viewing the work of artist Carla Raads is a truly personal experience. Wanting no barrier between her presence, emotion and the composition, the making of each piece is a physical act, with the artist tuning into the shape of the waves and landscapes she sculpts through paint.
Born in South Africa, the light of the African continent can still be found in her mesmerising works to this day. Raised on the coast, the artist describes herself as a “true beach girl at heart” having called the Eastern Cape home until the age of 16. Finding a new home on the Fylde Coast of Lytham St Annes, Raads quickly settling finding peace and familiarity in the waves of the nearby coastline.
Though modelling professional for over a decade, Carla Raads passion was always the creation of fine art having studied the subject at Blackpool college in her youth. A natural creative, further training took place in the methodology of design and interior at Manchester Metropolitan University. Meeting perhaps one of the most influential people in her life at the age of 19, the late Phillippe Aird mentors Raads leaving a last legacy on the young artist. A post-war and contemporary artist who had been tutored by both L.S Lowry and Harold Riley as a child, Aird was know for his abstracted style and use of the resin-pouring technique. Teaching Raads how to build her own canvas’s, he also shared painterly techniques and his conceptual ideology. Speaking of her mentor, Raads describes, “He was so free with his painting. He would let the work come alive by allowing the paint to move organically. The best thing he ever taught me”.
Returning to art after a 12-year hiatus, a period of post-natal depression compelled Raads to pick up an old canvas and paints. Furiously pouring pigment directly onto the surface, the artist instinctively conjured the crashing waves of the sea with her hands alone. Without the restriction of paintbrushes, the artist would lose herself in the pigment. Conveying great emotion, the works are the purest form of creation.
Continuing to paint landscapes and seascapes, it is easy to see why Carla Raads found solace in Mother Nature’s moods; often relating them to her own, works can be as turbulent as they can peaceful. Always powerful, the artist has a superb instinct for colour and a strength of vision making her original compositions instantly recognisable. Establishing herself as a force to be reckoned with, Wyecliffe Galleries is proud to represent a wide portfolio of standout original works from Raads.
