Page 36 - Art Almanac (February 2020)

Gallery and curated by Daniel Mudie Cunningham, demonstrated the depth and history of her
approach to mark-making since her graduation from the National Art School in 1980. The sense
of freedom she saw in the work of Ian Fairweather and Tony Tuckson as a young art student
continues to drive her exploration of abstract form.

Kovacs says a survey is ‘a chance to see how much the work has evolved,’ and an opportunity to
see older works brought into dialogue with each other. A recent survey exhibition, ‘The DNA of
Colour’ (2019), curated by Sioux Garside for Orange Regional Gallery and Drill Hall Gallery at ANU
brought together ten years of her foam roller paintings. Over a 40-year career, Kovacs has become
one of Australia’s foremost abstract painters by allowing her material to lead.

‘Two Grounds’, her forthcoming show with Martin Browne Contemporary, is the first since this
survey. The title refers to the two surfaces she has worked on – the raw plywood for the roller
paintings, and a textured card stock for a new suite of drawings. This body of work demonstrates
the push and pull of her approach to material, the paintings and drawings generating new forms
to feed one another.

Kovacs’ command of colour is on full display, with rich magentas and pinks against warm tonal
ochres, or tangy yellow and jade green offset by a complex nest of black and white. The new suite
of drawings also reminds the viewer of her skill in line and composition. She builds up a thick
ground of oil paint onto card, then draws into the surface with lead pencil or wax crayon. Bold
organic shapes bear witness to the artist’s hand, continually carving through the paint in new
paths. In contrast to the paintings which are constantly appraised, rotated, wiped down and
reworked, these works are made at close range on the floor, the full image not apparent until she
steps away. The process, Kovacs says, is ‘very felt from beginning to end… driven by sensation of
pencil in the oil surface.’

Just as she must continually rotate and reassess her paintings to see them anew, pushing further
into a drawing practice has granted freshness to the forms she makes in paint. Both are active
processes that live by their spontaneity, and a trust that what is seen on the surface is supported
by the work and care that has been taken with each previous layer. Kovacs explains that she knows
a work is finished when ‘the surface takes on a life that resonates an energy’ – an energy which has
the capacity to surprise both the artist and the viewer.

Martin Browne Contemporary
6 February to 1 March, 2020

Sydney

You and Me, 2019, oil paint on board, 180 x 244cm
Falling in place, 2019, oil paint on card mounted on board, 122 x 84cm
Courtesy the artist and Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney

36