Ilona Kiss is a Swiss-Hungarian artist working primarily in painting and drawing.  

Before relocating to Melbourne in August 2020, she spent 18 years in Manchester after working in Germany, studying in Austria and growing up in Switzerland. Maybe or because she changed her base repeatedly, she is drawn to the ambiguity and the unfamiliar, the dreamlike and the realm between sleeping and waking.

     2011 - 2013

MA Fine Art, Manchester Metropolitan University, School of Art, Prof. Pavel Büchler and Ian Rawlinson

     2003 - 2005

Manchester Metropolitan University, PGCE in Secondary Education, Art & Design

     1989 - 1993

Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria, Magister Artium in Theatre Design, Prof. Erich Wonder

     2017

Visitors, PAPER Gallery, Manchester

Art on Paper in collaboration with BOZAR, Brussels, Belgium

    2023

Linden Postcard Show, Linden New Art, Melbourne

Prospect Portrait Prize, Newmarch Gallery, City of Prospect, Adelaide

Bayside Local, Bayside Gallery, Melbourne

Centenary Art Exhibition, Mentone Grammar, Melbourne

    2022

Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022, London, UK

Sixty Drawings + Ten, The Whitaker Museum and Art Gallery, Rawtenstall, Rossendale, England, UK

     2021

Compact, Alternating Current Artspace, Melbourne, VIC

Flora Exhibition, Walker Street Gallery and other venues, City of Dandenong, VIC, AU

     2020

2020 National Works on Paper, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, VIC, AU

Small Works Art Prize 2020, Brunswick Art Gallery, Melbourne, AU

The Manchester Open 2020, HOME Manchester

     2019

The Manchester Contemporary, Manifest Arts

     2018

Into a Light, Saatchi Prints & Originals Gallery, London, collaboration between PAPER and LLE Gallery

Lost in Space, London Art Fair, Art Projects, collaboration between PAPER and LLE Gallery, Stand P13, Business Design Centre, London

Like the Lines of a Hand, PAPER and C4rd (Centre for recent drawing), London

     2017

The Sense of Things, Durden & Ray in collaboration with PAPER, Los Angeles, United States

Like the Lines of a Hand, PAPER and C4rd (Centre for recent drawing), Manchester

Mostyn open 20, Llandudno, Wales

Hepworth Print Fair, Wakefield

Drawing from the Future, Salon fuer Buchkunst, 21er Haus, Vienna, Austria

The End Is By Yur, Elysium Gallery, Swansea

Be Strong, Live Happy & Love, Portico library, Manchester

     2016

The Cat Show, PAPER Gallery, Manchester

Mixed Exhibition, Newave Gallery, Aberdeen

Realism on the Edge, PS Mirabel, curated by Axel Bottenberg

BEEP Wales 2016, International Painting Prize, Swansea, Wrexham and Cardiff

Royal Scottish Academy Summer Exhibition 2016, Edinburgh

Platform Open, Morphets of Harrogate, Harrogate

West Lancashire Open Exhibition, Ormskirk

Spectrum, PS Mirabel, Manchester

     2015

Drawing Exhibition, 3rd Floor Gallery, Manchester

Neo:artprize 2015, Bolton

Anonymous Drawings, Galerie Nord, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin

touring to Galerie ARTQ13, Rome, Italy, Galerie GEYSO20 Braunschweig, Germany and Kunstverein Rüsselsheim, Germany

Griffin Gallery Open, London

Collection of Small Paintings, curated by Michelle Lee Medjeral-Thomas, The Contemporary London

     2014

Glitter + Gold, Congou Projects, cardroom, Manchester

Derwent Artprize, Mall Galleries, London and touring

Longlist for John Moores 2014

Optima Mihi In Chartis, Galerie Römerapotheke, Zürich

Something Like Now, cardroom, Manchester

Resolution, Malgras|Naudet Gallery, Manchester

     2013

Contemporary Art Society North, PS Mirabel, Manchester

Benzie Building Opening, Manchester School of Art

Saatchi New Sensations 2013, Victoria House, London

MA Show, Holden Gallery, Manchester School of Art

Summer|Show, Malgras|Naudet Gallery, Manchester

Anonyme Zeichner, Galerie Nord/Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin

School of Arts VOL. lll, Absolventen und Studierende der School of Art Manchester in der HfBK Dresden

     2012

Oil, Grease and Rubber, Picadilly Place, Manchester

INTERIM II, Bankley Studios and Gallery, Manchester

INTERIM, NEO Studios, Bolton

     2011

Open Contemporary Art Exhibition, Stockport Art Gallery

Cow Lane Studio Relaunch, Salford

     2010

ArtWorks Open, Barbican Arts Group Trust, London, selected by

Graham Crowley and Timothy Hyman

Waterside Open, Waterside Arts Centre, Sale, 2nd Prize Winner

     2009

Salon 09, Matt Roberts Arts, London

     2013

Saatchi Online, ‘Thin Air’ has been featured in the Best of 2013 selection

     2023

Centenary Art Exhibition, Mentone Grammar, first prize winner with 'Crocodile Country'

     2014

Glitter + Gold, Congou Projects, cardroom, Manchester

Resilience, Congou Projects, cardroom, Manchester

Resolution, Congou Projects, Malgras|Naudet Gallery, Manchester

     1994 - 2000

Freelance Theatre Designer, Engagements at various theatres all over Germany and Austria    

     1994 - 1998

Assistant and Theatre Designer at Schauspielhaus Bochum, Germany

     1992 - 1994

Freelance Assistant Designer at Schaubühne and Schillertheater, both Berlin and Burgtheater, Vienna

     2022 -

Mentone Grammar School, Teacher of Art, fixed term, Y6 - 9

Patterson River Secondary College, Teacher of Art, fixed term, Y7 and 8

     2021 -

Art, Craft and Design Tutor at Melbourne Art Class and Beaumaris Art Group

     2017 - 2020

Withington Girls' School, Manchester, Teacher of DT and DT Technician, pt, KS3 and 4, Sixth Form EPQ Supervisor, KS5

     2014 - 2015

Loreto Grammar School, Altrincham, Head of Art, pt, fixed term, KS3, 4 and 5

     2013 - 2014

Brookburn Primary School, Manchester, Art Workshop Leader, freelance, KS1 and 2

     2005 - 2013

Whalley Range 11-18 High School, Manchester, Teacher of Art, pt, KS3,4 and 5