Kyla Covic's landscapes are all about light. As we move around the edges of her work we are gently carried to an illuminated focal point with in the work. The diffused colours give her paintings a wonderful sense of movement and timelessness. The light is ephemeral, fleeting, we are held in a captured transitory moment in time. These lightscapes are not set in a specific place but the feeling or sense of place and time – many of Covic's works capture the final moments of the ‘golden hour', the last hour before the sun finally sets along our New Zealand coastline. It is the time where day is not quite finished and night has not yet begun. Things are coming to an end, and things are beginning. There is always an invitation to look past and through the light, to discover something new.
Kyla Covic is a full time artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She finished her BSA VAMP mentoring programme in 2022.
Artist Statement
"The harsh, raking light and atmospheric effects found in Aotearoa New Zealand are something I feel compelled to paint. The vast, ever-changing sky and sea are my inspiration with all its dramatic changes and patterns – giving me a sense of peace and stillness, along with a sense of hope and awe."
Through my work I explore the relationship of colour and light, how light appears to shine brighter when a contrasting darkness is also present. Low light at the beginning & end of the day entrances me with the dramatic interplay of lost and found edges.
With the expansive skies, space and scale present in each painting I hope to evoke a personal response encouraging us to consider something larger than ourselves. The concept of Tūrangawaewae is also important to me and I embrace this concept with each work I produce. To have my feet firmly planted where I stand. Constantly exploring and discovering my identity as an artist and what it means to be a New Zealander.
Exhibitions:
- Jan 2024 Railway Street Gallery “Dog Days” Group Exhibition
- Sept 2023 250 Gallery “Studio to wall” Group Exhibition
- June 2023 Railway Street Gallery + Studios “Edge of light” Solo Show
- March 2023 Railway Street Gallery + Studios “To sit beside you” Group Exhibition
- Feb 2023 BSA VAMP (Visual Arts Mentoring Programme) Group Exhibition
- Nov/Dec 2022 Railway Street Gallery + Studios “Small Things” Group Exhibition
- Oct 2022 Kings College Exhibition
- Oct 2022 Railway Street Gallery + Studios “From the inside out” Group Exhibition
- Aug 2022 MAGS Art Show & Catalogue Cover Page
- June 2022 NZ Art Show in Wellington
- May 2022 BSA Meraki Group Exhibition
- Dec 2021 BSA Painting 4 Group Exhibition
- Nov 2021 Kings College Exhibition
- Aug 2021 Mt Albert Grammar Exhibition
- July 2021 BSA Landscape Group Exhibition
- May 2021 BSA Crackerjack Group Exhibition
- Dec 2020 BSA Painting 3 Group Exhibition
- Aug 2020 HOMEGROUND BSA charity exhibition for Auckland City Mission
- May 2020 BSA Member Group Exhibition
- Dec 2019 Madder & Rouge Retail Exhibition
- 2019 BSA Painting 3 Group Exhibition
- 2018 BSA Painting 2 Group Exhibition
- 2018 STAINED exhibition fundraiser St Paul’s Church
Art Commissions:
- Current 2023 7 x 400 x 400mm Queenstown Hotel
- Dec 2023 “Marama Atua” Private Collection 1100 x 1400m
- June 2023 “Heading out last summer” Private Collection 800 x 1000mm
- Nov 2022 “Remembering standing here” Private Collection 400 x 500mm
- Sept 2022 “Soaking in the coastal light” Private Collection 750 x 850mm
- Mar 2021 “Fall of Light” Private Collection 1200 x 1800mm
- Nov 2020 “Tomorrow II” 800 x 960mm Mt Eden Village Doctors
- Sept 2020 “After Image II” Private Collection 400 x 400mm
- July 2020 “Tomorrow” 1100mm round Wiltshire Apartment Lobby