Relinquish by Karen Covic

As a process-driven artist, Karen Covic is primarily interested in the way materials respond to different surfaces, and how colours combine to create harmony or conflict. Her underlying interests lie with portraying our internal landscapes, what makes us who we are, the experiences and the events that have shaped our characters, both good and bad. If we could penetrate through to those vibrant, tangled environments, what would they look like.

Previous works had been formed from ideas that were then transferred onto canvas. This time, it was the work that created itself and with only a little assistance. Watching the ‘event’ of applied colour creating the work. It was exciting to lay down a layer of colour and then return the next day to see what had occurred: the faded edges, the pools of colour, the mixing of pigments, the drip and flow and stain. You couldn’t plan these fortuitous elements. And that’s what makes the experience unique.

“It was like my role was changing from instructor to conductor. I just didn’t want to restrict movement of the paint in any way. I wanted to be free of all planning and expectations, to put colour onto canvas and to watch it flow.”

Colour has always been important in Karen’s work. Often used to create areas of harmony and conflict. To clash and to compliment. The work takes on an emotional temperature of what is being painted. Interested in events and encounters that contour our personalities, earlier works looked to convey what our emotional landscapes might look like. A theme that continues as even though the work is intrinsically abstract, there is often a landscape hidden there too.