Brigitta Kocsis, Secret Mechanisms 2 (2009), acrylic on canvas [Petley Jones, Vancouver BC, Mar 10-24]

Brigitta Kocsis, Secret Mechanisms 5, acrylic on canvas [Petley Jones, Vancouver BC, Mar 10-24]

Brigitta Kocsis, Secret Mechanisms 7, acrylic on canvas [Petley Jones, Vancouver BC, Mar 10-24]

Brigitta Kocsis's Secret Mechanisms explore boundaries between abstraction and representation, reality and imagination, and style and content. Combining interior locations, the human body and what appears to be medical equipment and sports paraphernalia, they refer to invasive technologies and contemporary advances in anatomical technologies. In her surreal settings, as the gallery puts it, “… human figures become actors, depicting a kind of repellent contemporary beauty.”

The graphic, expressionist images are painted in a layered, almost collage-like drawing style combined with a preponderance of washes and drips. Based on resources culled from the Internet, advertisements, books and magazines as well as self-portraits, the paintings point to a future when artificial body parts are no longer fiction.

Brigitta Kocsis studied visual arts at Concordia University, Montreal in the early 1990s and earned a BFA in Studio Art at Emily Carr Institute (2005). She has exhibited in numerous BC locations including Campbell River, New Westminster, Maple Ridge and Vernon. Secret Mechanisms was previously shown at the Campbell River Public Gallery (2009) and is available from Saatchi Online. Kocsis has lived in Vancouver with her family since 1994. She is currently in Berlin and in Paris on a Canada Council Research/Creation Grant for Visual Artists.

www.petleyjones.com

Mia Johnson