Intangible: Sculptural Works by Carly Kotynski

A welcoming light glows at the entrance to SGAR, a recently established gallery showroom in Brisbane’s Spring Hill. Through arriving patrons of the gallery, a beautifully renovated 1880’s Queenslander house imparts an architectural modernity that compliments as a space designed for contemporary art. Although somewhat intimate, the two rooms offer an elegant platform to showcase artwork such as Carly Kotynski’s.

Carly Kotynski’s first solo exhibition Intangible ingratiates the space with lure.

The hand-made pieces poetically engage the senses with a reverent tone towards the feminine and are indelible as graceful sculptural forms with a sensitive tranquility. Inspired from microscopic lithographic studies by biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel, they command an empathy with physical identification, perpetuating a sense of the life forms and their natural environment. The complex, yet simplistic woven and crocheted artworks are created primarily with copper, made in such a way as to enhance the delicate nature of the forms which work extremely well.

Most have been enameled in black to expand the play of light and shadow adding a deeper metaphysical component to the aesthetic. The well positioned lighting offers a further transcendent experience augmenting the nature of these intricate artworks. The pieces are strategically mounted on the gallery walls, with a few smaller free standing works placed on mantles; one can easily see how these would translate in the home.

I experienced a rare serenity when viewing the artworks, and most gallery patrons were also intrigued by the elation that permeated from the connection. Perhaps the deliberately slow making of the series has infused a meditative calmness and joy - an agreeable effect for anyone with a penchant for such substance.

Kotynski studied and worked as a graphic designer before initiating her passion for contemporary art with a Bachelor of Fine Art from Queensland College of Art, graduating in 2008. Her past copper pieces include Protection a corset fashioned from hundreds of strips of copper sheet and copper pop-rivets that won the sculpture category of the Churchie Emerging Art Award in 2007.

Kotynski’s other recent successes encompass noteworthy public art achievements such as Sanctuary, a site specific collection for the Mater Hospital and the commission Compassion, Harmony, Hope at 140 Anne St for Wesley Mission in Brisbane. Further public art commissions are destined for the Gold Coast later this year. The artist is also involved in interdisciplinary projects with emerging fashion designers creating wearable art.

Arts Curator Renai Grace certainly has a keen eye for talent, who met Kotynski through the Mater Hospital Public Arts project in 2007.

SGAR, the Spiro Grace Art Rooms, the brainchild of Paul Spiro and Renai Grace, and are intended as a platform specifically for emerging artists such as Kotynski, providing high caliber artwork for the enjoyment of collectors and public alike.

Intangible by Carly Kotynski

Artist website