Kathryn Cowen, Fragments, In the Flesh Exhibition, Artoure Contemporary Art, 2022
In The Flesh
Artoure Contemporary Art
5 Comber St Paddington NSW
29 April - 1 May 2022
Kathryn Cowen, Fragments 2021-22, In the Flesh, Artoure Contemporary Art Exhibition, Paddington, NSW, installation view
‘Fragments' a suite of paintings on masonite inspired by my inner city verge garden. In an attempt to simplify the concerns of my practice during the strangeness of the past few years; for this series I have focussed on process, colour, form and composition. While observing natural forms, shapes were initially cut out of paint sample cards, attempting to reference nature, yet not describe it. These ‘cut outs’ became the basis for the shaped masonite boards and subsequent paintings. In some ways these works are like fragments of the vegetation seen in the large landscape paintings that I usually make.
A 'hyper- real' colour palette has always been a central feature of my work, used in order to prompt a shift in perception and render the familiar strange and peculiar, and so it is with this series; colours amplified and layered, applied to both the front and rear surfaces of the support. The works hover away from the wall; glowing. Just as my garden does, in the gloaming.
Kathryn Cowen is a Sydney based multidisciplinary artist working across the fields of painting, sculpture and installation. Drawing on science fiction tropes in order to re-present visions of reality and consider alternate possibilities; Kathryn is currently questioning how our ecology will adapt and change to deal with whatever the future brings.
Kathryn studied painting at the National Art School, Sydney, where she was a finalist in the John Olsen Prize for Drawing and winner of the Chroma Paints Award, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Hons) in 2007. Since this time she has exhibited regularly in solo and group exhibitions across a variety of commercial, artist run and institutional galleries. Kathryn has been a finalist in the North Sydney Art Prize (2022), the Hazelhurst Art on Paper Award (2019), the Fisher’s Ghost Art Award (2021, 2019, 2015), the Calleen Art Prize (2018), the Waverley Art Prize (2015), the Little Things Art Prize (2021, 2020) and the Portia Geach Memorial Award (2006). She has participated in numerous residencies including the Cloudbough Art Residency (2021), the Gunyah Artist-in-Residence Program (2020), the Movers and Shapers Collective Turondale Residency (2018), and the NAS Artist-in-Residence Program, Hill End (2015). Her work is held in collections throughout Australia, the Netherlands and the USA.