C O M M I S S I O N S W E L C O M E • S T U D I O V I S I T S B Y A P P O I N T M E N T • O R I G I N A L A RT | P R I N T S | C U S H I O N S | G I F T S
ARTIST KYARNA’S BODY of work is so diverse it’s almost impossible to predict what she will create next. And no one is more surprised than the artist herself – whose intricate, fine-lined ink and pencil creations are so unplanned she never quite knows what the result will be until she lifts her hand from the paper. “I usually have a bit of an idea and I’ll do a basic pencil sketch on the paper,” Kyarna says. “Then I’ll just get the pens and go from there. It all sort of just comes out; it turns into this thing that’s in my head. I don’t plan and I don’t measure the page – I know a lot of people measure the page – but I just sort of do it.” Sunshine Coast born and bred, Kyarna lives and breathes art, dividing her time between her drawing and her “dream job” at Holloway Gallery in Moffat Beach. “I’ve always drawn, since I could hold a pencil,” she says. “I did a bit of art study after school, but I didn’t finish that. I came away with a few techniques and different things, but at the end of the day I think I’ve always been a drawer, not much of a painter or anything else. It wasn’t for me; it does put you in a bit of a box.” But art was in her blood, it seems, with contributions from both sides of her family. “My dad works with wood. He’s very creative with timber and my grandpa was an amazing painter. Mum’s side is also full of drawing and painting. So it’s trickled down.” “Very encouraged” by her family, Kyarna kept drawing. Now, her work is held in private collections around the country, and she has exhibited in Melbourne and Sydney. Her latest collection will feature in an exhibition at Holloway Gallery. Her work to date has been surrealistic in style – faces, figures, and creatures with mythical, otherworldly elements. Extensive cross-hatching – a mesh-like pattern of fine lines crossing over each other to create shading – has also been a feature of her drawings. Take, for example, her series featuring Indian-style headdresses – one of them atop the head of a giant lion. So detailed and photographic in their likeness, they exude a 3D quality. “I went through a bit of a phase of being obsessed with Indian headdresses,” she says. “I just love them. I think they’re gorgeous. I did a bit of research and found out there’s all these different types of headdress, and they all mean different things.” Then, there is The Elephant in the Room, a large drawing featuring an elephant mandala – scooping up bright yellow bananas with its trunk. “I decided it was too serious and it needed something more fun in it,” says Kyarna of her creation. “So I added the Andy Warhol pop art bananas.”
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