Drawing on imagery sourced from 1960s fashion magazines; this painting explores the tension between attraction and disruption through the depiction of textiles and clothing. Fragments of woven fabric, satin folds and patterned materials are cropped, enlarged and reassembled, creating a composition that feels both familiar and difficult to place. The bright yellow garment braided blue textile and soft pink fabric operate as distinct surfaces, while their juxtaposition unsettles any clear sense of scale, function or narrative.
Through slow, meticulous painting, tactile qualities such as sheen, softness and texture are translated into paint, encouraging a mode of looking where vision becomes closely tied to the sensation of touch. References to advertising imagery and fashion photography evoke glamour, desire and nostalgia, yet the fragmented composition resists straightforward consumption. By isolating and enlarging these details, the work shifts attention away from the objects themselves and towards the seductive qualities of their surfaces.
The work also blurs distinctions between surface and structure. The braid functions simultaneously as pattern and construction, while the folds of fabric suggest both volume and bodily presence. Different systems of making, sewing, weaving, draping and painting, are compressed into a single pictorial space. Rather than functioning as decorative details, these fragments become sites where ideas of touch, construction and embodiment converge, allowing textiles to move between object, ornament and surrogate body.
Charlotte Tatton is an emerging artist based in Sydney. Working primarily with oil paint, her practice explores how tactile and illusionistic surfaces complicate distinctions between image, material and reality.
Tatton completed a Bachelor of Visual Art at Adelaide Central School of Art in 2021 and is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) at the National Art School. She has exhibited widely across Adelaide, including at FELTspace and Floating Goose Studios, where she presented her recent solo exhibition, Collector’s Edition (2026).
In 2024, Tatton completed an international residency at Aviario Studio in Portugal and undertook a Guildhouse Catapult mentorship with artist Fran O’Neill. Her practice continues to investigate the relationships between painting, textiles and visual culture, drawing on imagery sourced from mid-century magazines and domestic interiors.
