Eveline Kotai was born in 1950 and lives in Fremantle, Western Australia. She is a member of the Art Collective WA (Director - Felicity Johnston).

Eveline has used a variety of media during the course of her 40-year art practice - including drawing, painting, printmaking, thread and stitch. Over the past 2 decades she has concentrated on the theme of material dissolution and regeneration - where works that may have previously been seen as representational are dismantled - allowing a remodelled ‘palette’ to create the impetus for new directions.

Exhibitions like Infinite Threads (2012), Subdivision (2014), Writing on Air (2015) and Reconstructions (2017) all draw their titles from the artist’s symbolic and material interpretation of the nature of change. Complex combinations of tone, colour and surface merge instinctively to form harmonies that unfurl in a way that reiterates the patterns in life’s underlying cycles.

Eveline's work offers a space for contemplation that distills her ongoing inquiry into the correlations between art, life and nature.

In 2019 a monograph Invisible Threads was published as part of the Art Collective WA’s ongoing series on WA artists. This thorough exploration of her 40-year practice includes essays by Julie Ewington, Nyanda Smith, and Helen Thurloe. Soon after the launch of the book, Eveline was featured in the WA Now program of the Art Gallery of Western Australia with a solo exhibition Breathing Pattern curated in collaboration with Dunja Rmandić.

PUBLICATIONS

2019 ‘Invisible Threads’ - Eveline Kotai monograph. Authors: Julie Ewington, Nyanda Smith, Helen Thurloe. Published by ART COLLECTIVE WA
2012 20 Years of the Mark Howlett Foundation 1991-2011, MARK HOWLETT FOUNDATION Perth, pp.24-25.
1999 ‘3x3x3’, Margaret Moore, MARK HOWLETT FOUNDATION CATALOGUE, Commission #5
1991 New Art Seven, Profiles in Contemporary Australian Art, edited by Nevill Drury, Published by CRAFTSMAN HOUSE pp. 118-121
1988 ‘The Kotais, An Inherited Wealth’, Diane Poudzounis, FREMANTLE ARTS REVIEW

PRESS (since 2000)

In recent years she has developed a unique style whereby she cuts up her paintings into thin strips, and reassembles them as tightly knitted grids, using a sewing machine to attach the strips to a canvas with invisible thread. The method is infinite in its applications, and this exhibition is virtuosic in its stylistic variations…While her structures may be rigid, Kotai uses colour to create patterns and rhythms that dance on the canvas.
- John McDonald, The Sydney Morning Herald

2019 ‘Eveline Kotai: Breathing Pattern’ video, WA Now, AGWA TV, Art Gallery of Western Australia
2019 ‘Permission to Breathe’, Lydia Edwards, SEE-SAW MAGAZINE
2019 ‘Eveline Kotai: Invisible Threads’, Nadiah Abdulrahim, ART GUIDE AUSTRALIA
2019 ‘Dissolution and regeneration of works gives pause to audiences’, HAVE A GO NEWS
2018 ‘Eveline Kotai, Artist’, Neil Cownie, NEIL COWNIE BLOG
2015 ‘Eveline Kotai, Giles Hohnen and family’, Lucy Feagins, DESIGN FILES
2012 ‘Wild and Wondrous’, John McDonald, SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
2012 ‘The Blake Art and Poetry Prize: Interview with Eveline Kotai’, ABC RADIO NATIONAL
2009 Video: Buddhism and Cosmology – GRAVITY CENTRE, Gin-Gin WA
2009 ‘4 WA Artists’ Issue #6, ARTISTS PROFILE (Sydney)
2006 ‘Patterns of a Textured World’, Ted Snell, THE AUSTRALIAN
2006 ‘Threading it Together’, Nyanda Smith, THE WEST AUSTRALIAN
2003  Weekend Review, Simon Blond, THE WEST AUSTRALIAN     
2002 ‘Same, Same but slightly Different’ (Bankwest Art Prize), Ted Snell, THE AUSTRALIAN
2002 ‘Stepping Stones to Harmony’, Sarah Palmer, THE WEST AUSTRALIAN
2001 ‘Art for Artist’s Sake’, David Bromfield, Big Weekend, THE WEST AUSTRALIAN

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2019, 2021, 2022 Horizontal Geometries interactive installation - Concourse and Gallery 9 - ART GALLERY OF WA

2021 The View from Here - Looking In/Out/Back - Gallery 9 - in collaboration with Lilly Blue - head of Learning - ART GALLERY OF WA
2019 Breathing Pattern - ART GALLERY OF WA
2019 Invisible Threads - ART COLLECTIVE WA
2017 Eveline Kotai ART COLLECTIVE WA - Artstage Singapore
2017 Reconstructions – CONNY DIETZSCHOLD GALLERY, Sydney
2014 Subdivision – CONNY DIETZSCHOLD GALLERY, Sydney
2013 New Works – ART COLLECTIVE WA, Perth
2013 New Works – EHDO QUARTERS, Fremantle
2012 Infinite Threads – CONNY DIETZSCHOLD GALLERY, Sydney
2010 New Works – DEPOT GALLERY, Sydney
2010 Recent Paintings – PERTH GALLERIES
2006 Correspondence/Review Show – PERTH GALLERIES
2005 Studio Show – WGV STUDIOS, Fremantle
2003 Invisible Threads – PERTH GALLERIES
2002 (with Jeremy Kirwan Ward) SWAP – DIANE TANZER GALLERY, Melbourne
2001 New Work – PERTH GALLERIES
2000 Recently Drawing – PERTH GALLERIES
1999 Mark Howlett Commission #5 Exhibition – PERTH GALLERIES
1996 Natural Selection – PERTH GALLERIES
1995 Quilt (Festival of Perth) – PERTH GALLERIES
1991 Woodcuts – FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE
1989 Drawings – FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE
1988 Margaret River Drawings – PERTH GALLERIES
1987 Margaret River Drawings – GREENHILL GALLERIES, Perth
1986 Margaret River Drawings – GREENHILL GALLERIES, Perth
1984 Drawings – GREENHILL GALLERIES, Perth
1980 Drawings – NOLAN ROOM, UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021 Jane Martin, Eveline Kotai & Angela Stewart // New Work

2020 Panacea: The City of Fremantle Art Collection and a Response to Covid-19 - FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE
2019 Safe Harbour, FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE
2017 Conny Dietzschold Gallery Stand - SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY (Art Fair)           
2016 Material Interface - ART COLLECTIVE WA
2015 Patternation - HAZELHURST GALLERY, Gymea NSW
2015 Giles Hohnen + Eveline Kotai + Caroline Juniper – CAPE MENTELLE WINERY, Margaret River WA
2015 Design Circus - Ex 7 (Mobilia) - STATE THEATRE Perth
2015 Writing on Air - ART COLLECTIVE WA
2015 Abstraction 14 - CHARLES NODRUM GALLERY, Melbourne
2015 Conny Dietzschold Gallery Stand - SYDNEY CONTEMPORARY (Art Fair)
2015 Conny Dietzschold Gallery Stand - ART CENTRAL HONG KONG(Art Fair)
2015 Mid West Art Prize - GERALDTON REGIONAL ART GALLERY
2015 Art Collective Down South - HOLMES A COURT GALLERY, Vasse Felix
2014 25th Anniversary – Conny Dietzschold Gallery, Sydney
2013 New Australian Painting – Conny Dietzschold Gallery, Sydney
2013 Abstracting the Collection: Works from the Cruther’s Collection of Women’s Art – Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Perth
2013 Blake Touring Exhibition – JEWISH MUSEUM OF AUSTRALIA, Melbourne
2012 Mid-West Art Prize- GERALDTON REGIONAL GALLERY
2012  Art Stage Singapore – CONNY DIETZSCHOLD GALLERY Sydney
2012 Selections From the Studio: An Artist’s Choice – PERTH GALLERIES
2012 MHF20 – FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE
2011 Fleurieu Landscape Prize 2011 Finalists Exhibition – HARDY’S WINERY, South Australia
2011 Director’s Cut – BLAKE PRIZE, Sydney
2011 Out of the West: Art of Western Australia from the National Collection – NATIONAL GALLERY, Canberra
2011  KIAF 2011, Seoul – CONNY DIETZSCHOLD GALLERY, Sydney
2011  10th Anniversary & Relocation – CONNY DIETZSCHOLD GALLERY Sydney
2011  Art Hong Kong 2011 – CONNY DIETZSCHOLD GALLERY, Sydney
2011  Art Stage Singapore – CONNY DIETZSCHOLD GALLERY, Sydney
2011 The Window and the Door – PERTH GALLERIES
2010 Home Open – FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE
2010 Accrochage Interstate – CONNY DIETZSCHOLD GALLERY, Sydney
2010 Sensational – FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE
2010 HMC Residency Exhibition – DUNA GALLERY, Budapest
2009 HMC Residency Exhibition – FERENCVAROSI GALLERY Budapest
2009 You Show Us Yours – We’ll Show You Ours/ Public and Private – HOLMES A COURT GALLERY, Perth
2008 Unity through Diversity – GRAVITY CENTRE, Gin-Gin, Western Australia
2007 The Smaller Picture – PERTH GALLERIES
2006 One Thing after Another – Sets and Series in Australian Art – LAWRENCE WILSON ART GALLERY, Perth
2006 Mix 2006 – PERTH GALLERIES
2005 Natural Selection – PERTH GALLERIES
2004 Mix Tape – ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
2004, 2002, 2000 Melbourne Art Fair – PERTH GALLERIES stand, Melbourne
2003 The First Decade: Mark Howlett Foundation – ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
2003 Living on the Edge – FREMANTLE MARITIME MUSEUM
2001 Acquisitions 2001 – NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, Canberra
1999 War Myth and Memory – VCA GALLERY, Melbourne
1997 Read my Lips-Art and Text – FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE
1996 Memory, Place, Identity – FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE
1996 Fragments – ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
1995 Studio FX – FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE
1994 New Romantics – ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
1991 Festival of Perth, Artists’ Artists + Room with a View – FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE
1990 Small Scale, Still Life – NOLAN ROOM, THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
1987 Five West Australian Artists – HOLDSWORTH GALLERY, Sydney
1984 George Haynes & Students – GREENHILL GALLERIES, Perth

AWARDS / RESIDENCIES

2020 Winner, Margaret River Art Award
2018  Finalist, Joondalup Award Invitation Exhibition                                                        
2018  Winner, Overall Prize, Cossack Awards, Cossack                                                
2016  Finalist, City of Albany Art Awards                                                        
2015 Finalist, Hazelhurst Works on Paper Prize                                                   
2015 Finalist, Mid West Art Prize, Geraldton Regional Art Gallery
2013 Winner, Gerry Gauntlett Prize (non acquisitive) Minnawarra Art Award
2012 61st Blake Art Prize – Co-winner
2009 Hungarian Multicultural Centre Residency – Budapest
2004 Painting Prize Artitude + Collaborative Design – Design Institute of WA
2002 Bankwest Contemporary Art Award
2001 Cossack Prize (invitation section), City of Stirling Award (invitation section)
1998 Mark Howlett Foundation, Fellow #5
1988 South West Survey Prize
1987 Oceanic Equity Award
1986 Bunbury City Art Purchase Award
1978 Perth City Portrait Prize

COLLECTIONS

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

ART GALLERY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
ARTBANK
BANKWEST
BAR CHAMBERS
CHRISTENSEN FUND
CITIES of FREMANTLE, PERTH, JOONDALUP

SHIRES of WANNEROO, MIDLAND & AUGUSTA-MARGARET RIVER

CURTIN UNIVERSITY, EDITH COWAN UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA, MURDOCH UNIVERSITY & TAFE

FRITZ HANSEN MUSEUM, Copenhagen
HOLMES à COURT
ILBERRY/BARTLETT                                                                                                         
KERRY STOKES
KPMG

WESFARMERS
LADY CRUTHERS COLLECTION
MARK HOWLETT FOUNDATION
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, Canberra

KING EDWARD MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
ROCKINGHAM GENERAL HOSPITAL
ROYAL PERTH HOSPITAL
SIR CHARLES GAIRDNER HOSPITAL
ST JOHN OF GOD HOSPITAL

PUBLIC ART

2023 Craigie Leisure Centre Window Design

2021-2023 Chevron Commission - artwork for Level 28

2020 Design for Screen Facade, Fremantle Social Club Development, Henry St, Fremantle (in collaboration with Matthews + Scavalli Architects)
2017 Design for Perforated Metal Screen, 1 Stone Street, South Perth (in collaboration with Matthews + Scavalli Architects).           
2015 Transformer Facade, Elizabeth Quay (in collaboration with Mathews + Scavalli Architects)
2015 Food & Beverage Outlet #4 (facade) - Elizabeth Quay (in collaboration with Matthews + Scavalli Architects)
2015 WA Museum Storage Facilities - Artwork collaboration - Margaret Dillon, Penny Bovell, Eveline Kotai, JCY Architects
2014 Duncraig Senior High School - Paterson Group Architects
2014 Wanneroo Senior High School Year 7 Facilities Stage 2 – DWA Architects
2010 Stage Design for Newman Town Centre Park – BHP Legacy project - collaboration
2009 Wanneroo Senior High School Refurbishment – DWA Architects Percent for Art Commission
2009 Station St Wall Design – Subi Centro, 2009 Rockingham Hospital – Percent for Art
2004 Carpet Design - All Saints College Early Childhood Centre