Katrina Cowling

I am looking at Katrina Cowling’s work because of her use of line, but with material properties and associations that diverge completely from my own. While the stance (standing lines) are similar, her use of neon lighting gives the line an entirely different aesthetic. At once playful and seductive, they are much more commanding – you can’t help but be drawn to them. I think it makes for an interesting proposition of how else the 3D line can feature in my work, that it doesn’t have to always be steel. I also like the way that in certain works the line becomes thickened into an object, coated in leather they are bulky and bodily. This juxtaposition between the lines existing in two very different material formats is exciting. 

 

I like the way in which she creates ‘sculptural landscapes’ to make ‘atmospheric environments’ (Cowling, K. 2022). I noted her drawings (pictured below), they made me want to draw suggestions for installations too, the sense of spatial thinking and interactions that move freely between a drawing and her sculptures.

 

The thing that really caught my eye was her blue lit lines alongside the blue paper-based works (prints, drawings?) on the wall (see images at bottom of page). I really like the play back and forth between the 2D and the 3D lines, the wall, and the space. The fact that they have similarities (blue colours, lines, and delineation) but at the same time have so many differences (materials, shades of blue, light and dark) means that you navigate this space in-between them. I don’t quite know what it is but when materiality, processes, and the body all linger in this liminal space it makes me excited about the work.