interview and preview of forthcoming exhibition (2008)

Hanna Kay’s journey to Australia, and ultimately to the rural tranquillity of the Upper Hunter Valley, has been substantial and exhilarating. Born in Israel, she studied and exhibited extensively in the art capitals of Europe and the USA before arriving in Sydney 1989. Recognised as a painter of exceptional quality, her art is to be found in many public and private collections.

A figurative painter of real status, Kay’s art nevertheless has an abstracted quality. She mesmerizes the viewer with her exploration of substance and absence, and aspects of physical opposites which can be both literal and metaphorical. Kay engages her work in a very personal way and her velvety, textured canvases demand respect and close scrutiny.

Kay is both intellectual and instinctive, cleverly crafting her subject matter, style, colour and form. As an artist, she responds to both her geographical surroundings, as well as to ideas and principles. Her ever-searching eyes and keen intellect are stimulated on the one hand by reading and conversation, and on the other hand by objects, shapes and patterns that attract. (Wilson St Gallery, Sydney)