Ilona Kiss’s practice explores the tension between interconnectedness and fragmentation in an age of image overload. Drawing from manipulated film stills, photos and social media images, the artist creates paintings that sit between the cinematic and the psychological, moments that feel both familiar and unstable.
From a middle-aged perspective, Kiss returns to the intensity and instability of being young, an experience marked by freedom, uncertainty, and a heightened sensitivity to image and self-construction. Figures, environments, and narratives are often pushed toward intensity, reflecting the sensory saturation and emotional ambiguity of contemporary life.
Memories are not fixed; they are edited, rehearsed, and re-staged over time. Through layered painterly techniques, shifts in scale, and vivid colour palettes, Kiss aims to capture this instability, where clarity dissolves into atmosphere and certainty gives way to suggestion.
To enquire about purchasing the work please contact: gallery@mosman.nsw.gov.au