Janice Kovar

Janice Kovar is a contemporary Hamilton artist best known for her textural paintings and assemblage constructions created in a non-objective and abstract style. She studied at McMaster University where she received a B. A in Honours Art and Art History and continued at Queen’s University completing a B. Ed. The artist has been exhibiting since the late 1980’s with her partnership in painting groups like the Contemporaries, as well as many other community based arts initiatives and exhibitions.

Specifically, Kovar’s work has been the subject of many solo and group shows within the Hamilton/Toronto area including TOAF 2023, Earl’s Court Gallery in Hamilton, Design T.O., McMaster Museum of Art, and the Carnegie Gallery in Dundas. Her work can be found in private collections across Canada.

Kovar continues to develop her work from her studio at the Cotton Factory in Hamilton, Ontario.

I am an artist who specializes in contemporary abstract paintings and assemblage sculptures that explore the interplay of colour, composition, texture, and form.  I am fascinated by both the urban and rural landscape and the connection between the two through brushwork, mark-making, and layering techniques.  I aim to encourage both a sense of reflection and discovery within the artwork, encouraging the viewer to engage with surface tensions, colour compositions and contrasts within the work through an abstract format.

The narrative of my work revolves around the notion of transformation, fragmentation and distortion.  I am interested in painting as a process and the dynamics that exist within the composition.  My work is about imperfection, fragility, and the balance that we strive to maintain in our daily lives, both within ourselves and those we connect with.   Using abstract techniques, I strive to build a story that plays upon the notion that there is beauty in the imperfect and that the play between accidental and purposeful mark-making adds a sense of transformation, allowing the viewer to possibly reflect on their own sense of self and community.