Vivid, an exhibition of paintings at Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art in 2018
Colourful forms bounce, collide, coalesce, and stretch across the canvas. Feeling like suspended moments that are temporarily captured in time, these paintings portray images that betray their production. Painstakingly finessed and layered, the intensity of the colour is produced through thin yet full layers of oil paint that build to a glowing opacity. As Kubis’ work is traditionally informed by modernist paintings, photography and digital image production, she makes images that pulse and vibrate through a considered choice of tonal values and combinations of natural and artificial colour. A seeming contradiction, Vivid captures an encroaching feeling of rapid change and instability through slow, deliberate and subtly off-kilter compositions. The works present a visually alert space for contemplation – celebrating a mindset that marries a loose improvisational approach with careful decision making. As a result, the paintings sing. Painterly and improvisational, Kubis’ work continues to capture a screen-like illumination from within the picture with light clusters and refractions across the surface of the canvas.
