Henry Moore Fellow in Drawing, Advanced Centre In Drawing, Bristol School of Art and Design, UWE.
Tania Kovats studied at the Royal College of Art between 1988 and 1990. Following this she exhibited at the Barclays Young Contemporaries at the Serpentine Gallery in 1991. At this time she was making installations of utopian architectural spaces.
The work of Tania Kovats deals with the experience and understanding of landscape. Her recent work has focussed on drawing and mapping landscapes and she has created bodies of work on imaginary and existing islands. Her current project involves mapping every individual, rock outcrop or island that surrounds mainland Britain. These drawings are on translucent paper some are tiny specks others fill the page.
Tania aims to bring together research from a year spent in Los Angeles in which she looked at the way earthquakes are represented through drawings. Speaking about the fellowship Tania says, “I am delighted to receive this Fellowship as I will now be able to concentrate on developing the vast body of research I collected in Los Angeles into a body of drawn work. I am looking forward to taking up this role in the Faculty which recognises the importance of drawing in artistic practice.”
'My main area of interest as an artist is with landscape. The landscapes that interest me the most are geolocially explicit landscapes where you can clearly read the narrative of formation or erosion. This leads me to be working with landscapes that are often remote – cliff edges, deserts, odd geological incidents. I am primarily a sculptor but drawing is increasingly important to how my work materialises. The way our experience of landscape is culturally mediated is of central concern to me. Much of my thinking over the last few years has meant I have looked to geology to help read landscape to further understand how landscapes are made outside of what we effect upon them. No landform exists forever but only within a particular time span in the earth’s history. I see landscape as a series of incidents coming into being.'
The processes and verbs of geology inform my work: eroding, shifting, erupting, compressing, solidifying, subsiding, tipping, and cooling. I look to either describe or use geological processes in the making of both my sculptures and my drawings. The work I am focusing on at the moment includes working from rock formations that follow simple mathematical formula – the basalt columar landscapes of the Isle of Staffa, the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, and the Devil’s Post Pile in California. I recently returned from a year and a half living in Los Angeles where I travelled in California exploring the San Andreas Fault line. Research into how a geological force effects a landscape and built enviroment is now manifesting in my work. The visual records that earth movements make – from seismographs and seismograms that are literally drawings made by earthquakes, to scars and fractures in the landscape visible from the air – are all of interest.'
'I recently completed a set of drawings titled ‘British isles’, that map every isle or rock that is separate to the main body of landmass that is know as the British Isles. There were over 2000 islands to describe in these drawings. I am just starting the next series of mapping drawings of all the islands in the Pacific Ocean, with the Times Atlas as my source. I intend to map the other oceans once this set is complete, with the aim of creating a floating atlas of my own.'
'These are my areas of focus that I am involved with just now. I have also been invited to edit a book on drawing which I imagine will be taking place over the time period of the Fellowship.'
Education
1988-90 M.A. Royal College of Art, London
1985-88 B.A. Newcastle Polytechnic, Newcastle -upon-Tyne (Great Britain)
Group Exhibitions
2004 The Deceleration Project, 27 Spital Square, London
2001 Landscape, British Council touring exhibition curated by Ann Gallagher; Centro Cultural del Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain;
Sofia Municipal Gallery of Art, Bulgaria; Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro and Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo, Brazil
Multiplication: Artistsí Multiples, Artists Multiplied, touring exhibition organised by The British Council commencing at the
National Museum of Art, Bucharest; Muzeul de Arta, Brazov; Muzeul Brukenthal, Sibu (Romania)
Close Encounters of the Art Kind, Victoria and Albert Museum, London At Sea, Tate Liverpool
Solo Exhibitions
2001 Schist, asprey jacques, London
1999 New Art Centre, Sculpture Park and Gallery, Salisbury (Great Britain)
1998 asprey jacques Contemporary Art Exhibitions, London, Galleria Marabini, Bologna (Italy)
1997 'Erosion' (with Carlo Guaita), British School at Rome
1995 Laure Genillard Gallery, London
1994 Philippe Rizzo Gallery, Paris Staten Galerie, Den Haag (Netherlands)
1993 Laure Genillard Gallery, London
1992 Lokaal 01, Breda (Netherlands)
1991 Riverside Studios, London
Unseen Landscapes. Artist and Wilderness, The Lowry, Salford, UK
2000 Explorations of the Environment: Landscape Redefined, Barbara Gillman Gallery, Miami
Lemon Tree Hill, asprey jacques London
real places?, Westfälischer Kunsterverin, Münster, curated by Andrew Cross and Suzanne Gaenscheimer
Landscape, British Council Touring Exhibition curated by Ann Gallagher, ACC Galerie, Wiemar; Union of Artists, Moscow;
Peter + Paul Fortress, St. Petersberg; Museum of Modern Art, Rome;
Centro Cultural Del Conde Duque, Madrid;
Espace Electra, Paris
'Lost', IKON Gallery, curated by Tania Kovats, Birmingham
1999 'Officina Europa', Bologna, curated by Renato Barilli
'Shopping', F.A.T. Production, Carnaby Street, London
'The Poster Show' Gavin Brown's Enterprise, New York
'Cognitive Landscapes', Dorothee De Pauw Galerie, Brussels
1998 'Thinking Aloud', Kettle's Yard, Cambridge touring to Cornerhouse, Manchester and Camden Arts Centre, London
'Il Passato nel Presente', The Tannery, London touring to Turin in 1999
'New Art From Britain', Kunstraum Innsbruck, Austria
1997 'Belladonna', ICA, London
'Pictura Britannica', Museum of Modern Art, Sydney, Australia travelling to Te Papa Museum, New Zealand
1996 'Happy Squirrel Club' Bank, Eindhoven, Galerie Ursula Walbrol, Dusseldorf
'Station Transformation', Tel Aviv
'ACE!', Arts Council Touring Exhibition inc. Hayward Gallery, London and Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol (Great Britain)
'Sculptor's Drawings', Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance (Great Britain)
1995 'Fuori Fase', Viafarini, Milan (with Martin Creed and Gillian Wearing)
'Fetishism', Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, London
'Melange d'Aout', Laure Genillard Gallery, London
'Automne-Herst 95', Staten Galerie, Den Haag (Netherlands)
'Elemental;', Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance (Great Britain)
1994 'Appearances', Massimo Minini Gallery, Brescia (Italy)
'Drawings', Laure Genillard Gallery, London
'Art Unlimited', CCA, Glasgow (touring)
1993 'Escale-Stopover-Tussenstop', Musee d'Art Moderne, Villneuve d'Ascq (France)
1992 'Discretion', Canary Wharf, London 'Twist', Laure Genillard Gallery, London
1991 'Barclays Young Artist Award', Serpentine Gallery, London
'Salon de Debutanten', Slagharen (Netherlands) '1001', Lokaal 01, Breda (Netherlands)
Publc Art Works
2000 'Sitooteries' Belsey Hall, Northumberland, English Heritage
1999 'Contour', in 'Secret Gardens - A series of works in gardens and the landscape', Salisbury
1998 'Viewpoint' - Ongoing public art commission at Kielder Water, Northumbria (Great Britain)
1996 'Roadworks', F.A.T. Public Art Project, Centrepoint, London
1995 'Garden' commissioned by the Public Art Development Trust, London
Architectural Projects
1998 'Plinth', permanent architectural public art work for IKON Gallery, Birmingham (Great Britain)
1997 Collaboration with landscape architect Peter Etches for landscape scheme for Thornton Research Centre and Science Park Artist
on the design team for a new sustainable primary school, Essex.
Architects: Alford Hall Monoghan Morris
1996-97 Artist on the design team for bus station in Walsall (Great Britain) Architect: Alford Hall Monoghan Morris
1995-97 Artist on the design team for the Ikon Gallery's relocation in Birmingham. Architects: Levitt Bernstein
Awards
2000 Civic Trust Award (for outstanding contribution to the quality and appearance of the environment)
1997 British School at Rome Scholarship
Royal Society of Arts, Art for Architecture Award
1996 Royal Society of Arts, Art for Architecture Award
1991 Barclays Young Artist of the Year Award
Catalogues/ Publications
2001 Unseen Landscapes, published by The Lowry, Salford
Multiplication, exhibition catalogue edited by The British Council, London; essay by Stephen Bury
2000 Landscape, published by The British Council, London
Lost, published by Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; with a preface by Jonathan Watkins, an essay by Irit Rogoff and notes by Tania Kovats
1998 'New Art From Britain', Kunstraum Innsbruck, Austria - essay by Claire Glossop
'Tania Kovats', The British School at Rome, Italy, essay by Augusto Pieroni
1997 'AD Frontiers: Artists and Architects', Architecural Design, London
'P.A.D.T.' Publication for the Art in Hospitals Project, essay by Jeremy Millar
'Arcadia Revisited', Black Dog Publishing, essay by Victoria Walsh
1996 'Roadworks', F.A.T. Production, London
1995 'Fetishism: Visualising Power and Desire', The South Bank Centre / Lund Humphries, London
1994 'Art Unlimited, Multiples of the 1960s and 1990s', Arts Council Collection, South Bank Centre, London,
essay by Hillary Lane and Andrew Patrizio.
'Elemental', Newlyn Art ¥Gallery, Penzance, interview with Laure Genillard
1993 'Escale-Stopover-Tussenstop', Musee d'Art Moderne, Villneuve d'Ascq Lille, France, essay by Joelle Pijaudier
1992 'Discretion', London, Canary Wharf, Art and Events, essays by David Batchelor and Mary Anne Francis.
1991 'The Missing Text', London: Chance Books, ed. Marysia Lewandowska
'Barclays Young Artist Award 1991', Serpentine Gallery, London
Articles
2004 Sarah Kent, 'The Deceleration Project', Time Out , 24 - 31 March, p 45
2001 Mark Irving, 'Northern exposure', RA Magazine, Summer issue 71
Rachel Withers, ‘Tania Kovats’, ArtForum, Summer 2001
Dan Smith, ‘Tania Kovats’, Art Monthly, June
Louisa Buck, ‘Luisa Buck’s choice of Contemporary Galleries’, The Art Newspaper, June
Richard Cork, ‘Tania Kovats’, Play. The Times, 12-18 May
Sarah Kent, ‘Tania Kovats’, Time out, 23-30 May
Morgan Falconer, What’s On In London Magazine, 30 May
‘That’s no ordinary loo in our living room. That’s a Sarah Lucas.’ ‘The Observer Magazine, 20 May
FAT presents Roadworks: Tania Kovats, Saturday 19 May
Unseen Landscapes, The Guide, The Guardian, 12-18 May
‘The land strikes back’, The Independent on Sunday, 13 May
2000 Charles Darwent; 'Rocky Road to Success', Art Review, July / August
Izi Glover; 'Lost, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham', Frieze
Ian Winterton; 'You! Outside Now!', The North Guide, May, p. 8 & 9
'figleaf', Eden, May / June, p. 14
Dominic Murphy; 'Far-Out Pavilion', Guardian Weekend, 13 May
David Taylor; 'Contemporary pavilions land at Belsay Hall', The Architects' Journal, 4 May, p. 16
Tony Henderson; 'Hall showtime for Sitooteries', The Journal, 3 May
Mary Lockhart; 'Arts & Entertainment', The Scotsman, 2 May
Peter Young; Evening Chronicle, 2 May
Catherine Barnes; 'Where the art of sitooterie transforms the landscape', Sunday Express, (illus.) 30 April
Stephen Anderton; 'Come and sit on my sitooterie', 29 April
Giles Worsley; 'Creativity flowers in a British gardens', The Daily Telegraph, 27 April, p. 29
'Scottish influence to the fore as designers brave world of 'Esitooteries', The Journal, April 26
Alex Farquharson; 'Lost', Art Monthly, April
Jay Merrick; 'Yes, you can sit on them...', The Independent, 24 April
Jeremy Deller; 'Tania Kovats', Artists Newsletter, April
'When art can be a prickley subject..., Echo, 3 April
Jeremy Ackerman; 'Lost: an interview with Tania Kovats', londonart.co.uk, 29 March
Adrian Searle; 'Frantic Assembly', The Guardian
Kate Worsley; 'Far out pavilions', The Independent on Sunday, (illus.), 12 March
'Fragrance of Culture', Noblesse Magazine, March
CK; 'Lost Highway', Tate Magazine, Spring
Nicole Haroutunian; 'Lost Found', Redbrick, March
SS; 'Abandoned In Brum With Giant Genitals', Sleazenation, March
'Lost at Ikon', Citywide, February – March
Terry Grimley; 'Lost in this dispiriting line-up', Birmingham Post, February
RC; 'Getting Lost', Guardian Guide, 12 February
Simon Webb; 'Art Review – Lost', Metro, 21 February
TB; 'Art Ceremonial Burning', Metro, 1 February
1999 'How green is your valley ?', Blueprint, (illus.) June
Gianmarco del Re, 'Tania Kovats at Asprey Jacques', Flash Art, (illus.) March/April
Keith Patrick, 'Tania Kovats and Veronica Ryan', Contemporary Visual Arts, (illus.), issue 22, p.63
1998 David Barrett, 'No Damien, No Gary, No Tracey', Art Monthly, September
Paul Usherwood, 'Park Life', Art Monthly, September
William Feaver, 'Nice sculptures, but just look at those telegraph poles' The Observer Review, Sunday September 6
Jonathan Glancey, 'Great glass elevator', The Guardian, 16 March
1997 Greg Hilty, 'Art for Architecture', RSA journal, vol CXVL N0.5476, January/ February
Jenny Walwin, 'Art in Public', Artist's Newsletter, March
1996 Simon Morrissey, 'Design for the Cultural Sector', Architect's Journal, October
1995 Emmanuela De Cecco, 'Fuori Fase', Flash Art (Italian) No. 191
'Il Disagio Metropolitano', L'Arca 91, March
William Feaver, 'Obscure Objects of Desire', The Observer, 14
May Robin Dutt, 'What's Your Fetish?', Attitude, April
James Hall, 'Tania Kovats', The Guardian Guide, 1 July
Sarah Kent, 'Tania Kovats', Time Out, 12-19 July
Libby Anson, 'Profile: Virgin Territory', Art Monthly, No. 190
Nadine Gayet-Descendre, 'Ui Fait La Scene Anglais? Beaux-Arts, No. 138
Juan Cruz, 'Elemental', Art Monthly, No.192
Fiona Murphy, Minumental Art, Monumental Rubbish? The Guardian Weekend, 13 January
1994 Sarah Kent, 'Drawings', Time Out, 25 May - 1June
Catherine Milner, 'Ping- Pong Art For Around £700', Sunday Telegraph, 27 November
Damian Thompson, 'Offensive Madonna Sculpture Withdrawn', Daily Telegraph 13 December
1993 Feaver, William. 'No Paint Please We're Artists, The Observer, 31 Jan
David Lillington, 'Tania Kovats', Time Out, 3-10 February
James Roberts, 'Tania Kovats', Frieze, Issue 9
Sachiko Tamashige, 'Tania Kovats', Nikkei Art, No.5
William Jeffett, 'Tania Kovats', Artefactum, Vol 10, No.4
1992 Caryn Faure Walker, 'Discretion', Time Out, 8 - 15 April
William Feaver, 'Maid Eternal (Discretion)' The Observer, 19 April
David Batchelor, Under the Canary, Frieze, Issue 5
1991 Sarah Kent, 'Tania Kovats', Time Out, July
Tania Kovats
e-mail: Tania.Kovats@uwe.ac.uk (work) or Taniakovats@hotmail.com (home)
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