About Erika

Erika Gofton is a Naarm (Melbourne, Australia) based artist working across drawing, painting, ceramics and installation. Her work explores the many facets of what it is to be human, and precariously sits between the beautiful and the ugly, the ambiguous and the lucid, the dark and the light, the absent and the present.

She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and Post Graduate Diploma of Education and has undertaken further studies in London and New York.  She has held solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland, and has exhibited in numerous group and curated shows both within Australia and Internationally.

In 2012 winning the Toyota Community Spirit Travel Grant enabled her to undertake a residency in New York at Point B Worklodge. Whilst in New York she received a scholarship to complete the Drawing Marathon at The New York Studio School. She has been a finalist in the Paul Guest prize, Jacaranda Drawing Prize, Adelaide Perry prize for Drawing, the EMSLA, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Mosman Art Prize, R & M McGivern Prize, the Redland Art Prize, City of Albany Art Prize, winning peoples choice in 2012. 

Erika is a passionate educator, in particular drawing, and has taught at VCA and many other institutions, In 2010 she founded The Art Room, an independent art school in Melbourne, and now runs this with creative partner Ilona Nelson. In 2023 they also founded gallery, Parallel Projects.

”I wish to pay my deep respects to the Boonwurrung people of the Kulin Nation, upon whose unceded ancestral lands that I live and work. I pay my sincere respects to the elders, both past and present, for their enduring wisdom, leadership, and custodianship of this sacred land.

I acknowledge and honour the unique stories and artistic contributions of the First Nation people. May this acknowledgment serve as a reminder of my commitment to reconciliation, mutual respect, and the celebration of the arts that flourish from within First Nation cultures.”

Erika Gofton