Catalogue Essay | Excerpt

Dr Elizabeth Bodey

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Koukoravas’ large scale works, painted on multiple layers of glass and perspex, are characterized by his use of shadow and light, depth and space. Layering additional panels to create further complexity and depth, Zac imposed strict parameters on his creative process, finding infinite possibilities within set limitations. Conflicting elements of chance and structure, movement and stillness result in works full of peaks and plateaus, structure and composure - the outcome of gambling with the dichotomy of order and chaos.

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Embedded within Zac’s abstract painting practice are a diverse range of pictorial traditions and cultural experiences including graffiti, architecture, the electronic music scene, political activism and our relation to natural and urban environments. Colour and form, appropriated and deconstructed from the surrounding environment, play a key role in the aesthetics of the work.

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His is a hard/soft-edged, intriguing dialogue of piercing forms, yet possessing an atmospheric quality created by a sfumato effect that draws us into potent spaces in and around the painted surfaces. The overlapping directional shapes, the materials used and the application of paint by airbrush suggest a sense of fragmented soundwaves in deep space and of the ‘far away’, as if pointing to the future. Texture is denied. Surfaces are smooth and screen-like, and within these forms there are suggestions of the physical presence of another, more tenuous world.

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As with many artists, materials and processes formulate the entrance to these ‘other’ worlds. Koukoravas’ works consist of layered sheets of glass and acrylic, painted on both sides, suspended within a darkened interior frame. By purposefully using a limited range of enamel and acrylic colours, the meticulous shapes within his compositions are delicate, floating as if in a space both microscopic and vast. They permeate a sense of mystery. Traditional brush marks and textures are absent in this conversation of contrast: sharp and soft, opacity and transparency. Pellucid forms both emerge and recede, shifting focus from background to foreground and back again.