Natasha Zraikat

About the artist

Natasha Zraikat is an imaginative realist oil painter living on the Gold Coast, Australia. She has a deep interest in environmentalism and humanitarianism and these themes underpin much of her work. She hopes to bring meaning and positive change to the world through her paintings and their stories.

Born in California to Jordanian-Palestinian and Ukrainian-Russian parents, Natasha moved to Australia as a child where she has lived ever since. Her earliest artistic memories include drawing, studying and surrounding herself with animals. This lifelong affinity has seen Natasha grow into a passionate environmentalist, and these themes have spilled into her work in recent years as her concerns about the state of the natural world continue to intensify.

Natasha is a self-taught artist, having taken one year in Florence, Italy for informal artistic development where she won Best in Show in the City-Wide Art VIII Competition. Her work has since been included in numerous other art prizes, including the SBS Portrait Prize, Metro Gallery Art Award, Lethbridge 20000 Art Prize, Williamstown Contemporary and the Art Lovers Australia Art Prize.

Artwork Themes & Subject Matter

Natasha Zraikat’s work brings us to a place where realism and imagination meet. Through brilliant, oil-painted sky scapes, narrative portraiture, allegory and symbolism, her works offer an insight into the artist’s innermost musings. Building upon previous years in contemporary portraiture, Natasha’s more recent works look beyond the physical subject – diving into the realms of deeper consciousness and the human relationship with the natural and spiritual worlds.

The artist often uses herself as model and muse, in part as a matter of immediate practicality, but more so to add creative depth to the messages that she conveys through her art. Being an aerial silks enthusiast and yoga teacher, Natasha welcomes the added layer of meaning this physicality brings to her creative process and expression.

She is fascinated with nature, humanity and how the two interconnect. The animal allegories found in her work represent various parts of her own psyche and how she perceives reality, exploring our intrinsic connection to our natural surroundings. Thoughtful compositions, glowing palettes and painterly brushwork combine, blurring the lines which often define realism and inviting the viewer into a dream-like state were intuitive meaning triumphs over physical reality.

Press

Natasha Zraikat’s paintings have been published in notable magazine and online sources including Art Edit Magazine, House and Garden UK Magazine, Precinct Magazine, The Art Lovers Australia 2021 Exhibition Book, Raw Ink Magazine and Gelmag Magazine.

Upcoming Exhibitions

CV

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024

Petite Pieces Prize, Aspire Gallery Brisbane, Australia

Undercurrents, WOW x WOW Gallery, Scotland

2023

The Art of Imagination, Petrie Terrace Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

Dean Cogle Portrait Prize Exhibition, Dust Temple, Gold Coast, Australia

2022

Dean Cogle Portrait Prize Exhibition, Dust Temple, Gold Coast, Australia

Lethbridge Art Prize Finalist Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia

2021

SBS Portrait Prize Exhibition, Southern Buoy Studios, Melbourne, Australia

2020 

Dean Cogle Portrait Prize Exhibition, Dust Temple, Gold Coast, Australia

See also

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PAINTINGFIGURATIVE ARTMAGICAL REALISMNUDE ARTOILREALISMSURREAL ART

Richard A Williams

Lethbridge Art Prize Finalist Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia

EMERGE : 8th Edition, Brunswick St Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

Bushfire Charity Art Auction – BAM! Popup Gallery, Gold Coast, Australia

2019 

Dean Cogle Portrait Prize Finalist Exhibition, Gold Coast, Australia

Lethbridge Art Prize Finalist Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia

2018 

Dust Temple Portrait Prize Finalist Exhibition, Gold Coast, Australia

Lethbridge Art Prize Finalist Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia