CV + BIO

Ildiko Kovacs

Born 1962, Sydney, Australia 


One of Australia’s most respected abstract painters, Ildiko Kovacs is renowned for images that, whilst grounded in her sense of the Australian landscape, are at the same time deeply personal meditations on her life and emotions. Alive with energy and movement, the surface of Kovacs’ works are renowned for their sensual flowing line played against passages of consummate mark-making. Washes of underpainting reveal themselves from beneath layers of colour, while Kovacs’ elegant and bold lines dictate the movement of our gaze across the picture plane.

Kovacs has been exhibiting since the 1980s and has been shown in a number of significant solo and group exhibitions, including the Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2014); Crossing Paths II, Raft Art Space, Alice Springs (2013); and Fieldwork, Bathurst Regional Gallery, NSW (2011) and MCA, Sydney (2010). Kovacs’ work is in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, NSW; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Bathurst Regional Gallery, NSW; and various private collections.

EDUCATION

1979-80  Higher Art Certificate, National Art School, Sydney 

1978  Art Certificate, St George College, Sydney

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 


2007  Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne"
2005  Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney 
Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne 2004 Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney

2002  Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne
 

2001  Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney 
1999 Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne 
 1998  Christine Abrahams Gallery, Melbourne 

1998  Mary Place Gallery, Sydney 
1997 Mary Place Gallery, Sydney 

1995  Selenium Gallery, Sydney 

1994  Studio Exhibition, Sydney 

1993  Studio Exhibition, Sydney 

1991  Gary Anderson Gallery, Sydney 

1989  Gary Anderson Gallery, Sydney 

1988  Gary Anderson Gallery, Sydney


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 


2008  Paint, Raft Artspace, Darwin (Makinti Napanangka, Aida Tomescu, Eubena Nampitjin, Ildiko Kovacs)
Autumn Catalogue, martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney
Contemporaneous, Wangaratta Regional Art gallery
2007  Summer Exhibition, Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney 

2006  Melbourne Art Fair, Christine Abrahams Gallery Stand, Melbourne 

2004  Selection of Contemporary Australian Art, Martin Browne Fine Art 

2004  Depth of Field ˆ Anamorphosis, Utopia Art Sydney. 

Talking About Abstractions, Ivan Dougherty Gallery COFA, Sydney 
U R in E.U., Sir Herman Black Gallery, University of Sydney 

2003  Crossing Paths, Martin Browne Fine Art, Sydney 

2002  A Silver Lining and a New Beginning, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, COFA, UNSW 2002 Redlands Westpac Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney 
Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne Exhibition Buildings 
Indecorous Abstraction, Light Square Gallery, Adelaide & QVB Sydney
New Contempʼs Gallery 
Southern Exposure 2, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery
Sydney 
Wynne Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales 

University School Club Art Prize, Sydney 

2001  A Century of Collecting 1901 > 2001, Ivan Dougherty Gallery,
Sydney 
Wynne Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales 

Southern Exposure 1, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Sydney 

2000  Wynne Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales 
Australian
Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne Exhibition Buildings 

Summer Exhibition, Martin Browne Fine Art,
Sydney 
Southern Sydney Artists, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Sydney

We Are Australian, Touring Exhibition 

1999  Wynne Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales 

Sulman Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales 

Contemporary Painting, Allen Allen and Hemsley Collection, 
University of Technology, Sydney 

1998  Australian Contemporary Art Fair 6, Melbourne Exhibition Buildings 

Archibald, Wynne & Sulman, Regional Tour of Selected Works 
Wynne Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales 

Sulman Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales

1996  Moet & Chandon, Touring Exhibition 
Wynne Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales 

1995  Up, Down and Across, Campbelltown City Art Gallery, New South Wales 

Wynne Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales 

Group Exhibition, Eva Breuer Gallery, Sydney 

1994  Group Exhibition, Olsen & Carr Gallery, Sydney

Wynne Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales 

1993  Contemporary Australian Painting, Allen Allen & Hemsley Collection 
Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne 

1991  Over East, Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, University Of Western 
Australia, Perth 

1990  Working Up to Yellow, Campbelltown City Art Gallery, New South Wales 

Art Dock, D‚Art Contemporain Australien, Noumea,
New Caledonia 
Australian Contemporary Art Fair 2, Melbourne Exhibition Buildings 

1989  Sir William Dobell Foundation Art Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales 

1988  Australian Contemporary Art Fair 1, Melbourne Exhibition Buildings 

1987  Group Exhibition, Gary Anderson Gallery, Sydney 
Winter
Exhibition of Women Artists, Gary Anderson Gallery, Sydney 

1986  Group Show, EMR Gallery, Sydney 
1983-86 Heritage Art Prize, Blaxland Gallery, Sydney 

1983  Works on Paper, Campbelltown City Art Gallery, New South Wales

AWARDS 


Fishers Ghost Art Prize
Campbelltown City
Art Gallery New South Wales 

Youth Art Award

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 


2007 SMH Jeff makin September 
Vogue Living, August 2007 

2005  Inside Out, November 2005 

2002  azmina Cininas, Review, Art & Australia, Autumn, Vol.40, No.3 

Roy Jackson, Exhibition Catalogue Essay, August 
2001
John Peart, Exhibition Catalogue Essay, September 
Sebastian Smee, Sydney Morning Herald, 19 January 

2000  Andrew Frost, Australian Art Collector, January-March Issue 

1998 Sebastian Smee, Sydney Morning Herald, 15 December 

1997  John McDonald, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 December 

Deborah Tarrant, Australian Art Collector, October Issue 

1996  Terence Maloon, Art & Australia, Autumn Issue 

1995  John McDonald, Sydney Morning Herald, 02 September 

Felicity Fenner, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 May 

Felicity Fenner, Sydney Morning Herald, 14 April 1994
Elwyn Lynne, The Australian, 11 April 

Felicity Fenner, The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 March 

1993  Robert Rooney, The Australian, September 
1991
David Bromfield, The West Australian, 09 February 

Charlie Shead, Agenda Art Magazine, January
1988  Christopher Allen, Sydney Morning Herald, 15 April

COLLECTIONS 


Victoria 
Maquarie Bank 

World Bank Washington DC
Private Collections in Australia, New Zealand, UK, USA, France and Italy