Artist Statement // Catharsis - in Greek 'purification' - is the purging of negative emotion by feeling it at a safe remove: the terror of the rollercoaster replaced by the warm flood of relief at its end. It is the enduring power of tragedy to connect us to ourselves and each other via empathy. Who are Zeus, or any of these lauded victors to me? Caricatures drinking ambrosia.

Give me a loser any day. Arachne is a woman I know, Icarus is a friend of a friend, the Minotaur trapped in a familiar machine. The choices we make lead us to fates unseen, our own audience screaming mutely from the sidelines; but like our tragic counterparts we have no way of knowing. We must simply keep moving, in the raw-skinned pleasure of life, with little comfort but the knowledge that it has all been felt before. They suffer gruesomely, and beautifully, that we might be a little less alone.

Kate Kurucz is an artist based in Adelaide whose work explores themes of loneliness, connection, and the relationship between absurdity and the sublime.

Graduating from Adelaide Central School of Art in 2012, Kurucz has recently expanded her practice to include oil-on-glass animation and installation. She has been involved in several solo and group exhibitions and been awarded numerous opportunities, including the Guildhouse Collections Project, Hugo Michell Gallery, Praxis Artspace and winning the R.S.A.S.A Portrait Prize.Her work is held in both public and private collections, including that of The Lester Group, The History Trust of South Australia, and the Adelaide City Council. In 2023 Kurucz's exhibition "Haza" won the Bank SA award for Best Visual Art at the Adelaide Fringe.

@katekurucz
katekurucz.com

Aushaf Widisto writes about Kate Kurucz in Neoterica 2024.

Kate Kurucz, T.G.I.F, 2023, oil on linen, 170 x 120 cm. Sam Roberts Photography.
Kate Kurucz, Constructive Criticism, 2023, oil on linen, 170 x 120 cm. Sam Roberts Photography.