Battson was put on the arts map when she was honoured with an award in the Absa L’Atelier art competition, in July.
Now in its 29th year, the competition aims to honour established and emerging young artists, with the objective of showcasing their diverse talents and fast tracking the careers of the winners, by exposing them to international opportunities.
The 24-year-old walked away with the overall award and main prize for her artwork, titled “Odds of an artist like me”.
The Benoni-born and raised artist’s work was inspired by her love for stripes.
“I really love stripes and, while studying my BA Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria, I started to embed statistics into stripes in my paintings, so that they became like big graphs.
Her artwork is a mixture of art and statistics that work together to produce a message that art-lovers are sure to appreciate.
“The painting acts as a bar graph, with each stripe representing a statistic relating to artists; more specifically, the odds and ends of an artist like me.
“With the top of the canvas representing zero per cent and the bottom 100 per cent, the viewer is able to decode the artwork through the legend supplied at the base of the artwork,” she added.
Battson said that calling her work “Odds of an artist like me” represents the stereotypical odds of an artist and stems from her passion for art.
“I was determined to follow my dream of becoming an artist, but the statistics did not support my argument,”she explained.
“For example, research shows that I have more chances of getting a hernia lifting heavy paint than being published in an art book, but, despite the odds, the work was a great success.”
Battson always knew that she wanted to be an artist and, from a young age, nurtured her interest.
“I was fortunate to be able to attend art classes and I also received several years of tuition from artist Rose Deary, while I was at school,” she said.
As a professional artist, she uses automotive paint on canvas and the result is a smooth, high gloss, abstract artwork.
Battson does not believe that art is appreciated enough within South Africa.
“There is a growing trend to do away with art and a huge misunderstanding that it is not important,” she said.
But she appreciates the work being done by the South African National Association for Visual Arts, which promotes visual arts within South Africa.
Her advice to young aspiring artists is to never settle for less.
“The South African art market is much bigger than you think and there is a space for South African artists.
“If you’re ambitious enough to follow your dream it is reachable, I can testify to that,” she concluded.
