STUDIO: STATEMENT┊BIOGRAPHY┊WORK┊CONTACT
Statement
I am often drawn to a visual encounter before fully understanding why. I return to it repeatedly because the painting is where that attraction becomes intelligible.
I remain with the encounter and develop the painting without a predetermined plan. A composition is discovered through the act of painting. Moments of recognition can redirect the work. If the painting requires it, I rearrange or alter elements until the composition holds together and contains only what is necessary. The canvas becomes a place where the initial encounter is gradually transformed.
A painting is complete when it has taken on a distinct presence independent of its source. I am interested in making paintings that remain grounded in what is seen while becoming increasingly concentrated and resolved as pictorial realities.
Biography
Geraldine Kovats is a painter whose work explores how lived perception is transformed through painting into concentrated presence.
Kovats began her career as a background artist at Walt Disney Feature Animation. Her animation work also includes shot refinement for the stop-motion sequences of The Little Prince (directed by Jamie Caliri), which premiered out of competition at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
In 2002, she established a full-time painting practice while living in Latin America. She later served as a Senior Lecturer at DigiPen Institute of Technology, where she developed courses in foundational and advanced drawing and painting.
In 2013, she created hand-painted watercolor and gouache environments for Mathias Poledna’s Imitation of Life, presented at the 55th Venice Biennale. Editions of the installation are held in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Contact
© 2026 Geraldine Kovats. All Rights Reserved.
All visual artwork and written text on this site are the sole intellectual property of Geraldine Kovats. No co-authorship, editorial, or reproduction rights are granted or implied.