Tania Kovats

After completing her MA at the Royal College of Art in 1990, Tania Kovats (b.1966) won the Barclays Young Contemporaries award at the Serpentine Gallery in 1991. The intervening years have seen Kovats’ early artistic promise grow and develop and today she stands as an important figure within British contemporary art. This monograph, the first of its kind, is a much-needed addition to the scant literature available on this original artist.

The highly controversial Virgin in a Condom, introduced Kovats’ work to the wider artistic community. However, this piece is unrepresentative of an oeuvre which is dominated by the artist’s primary interest in the landscape. Her sculptural forms and drawings are pre-occupied with the earth’s shifting geology - cliff edges, canons, coastlines feature often. Rock formations such as the basalt columar landscapes of the Isle of Staffa and the Devil’s Post Pile in California are among her inspirations, as is the British Isles (one body of drawings mapped every individual, rock outcrop or island that surrounds mainland Britain).

Like the natural world which inspires it, Kovats’ work is constantly shifting. This insightful monograph reveals the twists and turns of the artist’s career to date - from her creations as fledging artist to Kovats’ most recent successes which include her travelling meadow and the prestigious commission, to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, to create a permanent work in London’s Natural History Museum. For all those interested in contemporary British art, this book is an essential purchase.