Kate Beatty
White Swan Standing (Black Series) $1,550 Status: Available
NZ Tui (Black Series) $1,550 Status: Available
NZ Pukeko (Black Series) $1,550 Status: Available
NZ Kea Ascending in Flight (Black Series) $1,980 Status: Available
Kate has completed a degree at Ilam School of Fine Arts with a major in painting in 2014. Previous to her degree she had studied in printmaking, sculpture, painting and photography.
Kate’s current series of works explore the hierarchy of image and object through a process that draws on seriality and originality. Repeated botanical studies form the background , as a native bird is depicted in the corner or centre of the artwork. This patterning effect works to devalue the botanical image; it becomes design, wallpaper-esque, whereas the depicted native birds stand by themselves. A ‘colourwash’ is applied over the surface, simultaneously pulling some of the botanical images into the mid and foreground. In doing this, the background almost acquires the status of subject as the native birds fall between the fore and mid-ground. The combined result is uncanny; nothing seems to be quite what it should.
The concept behind the series of works draws on establishing a connection of Kate’s heritage as a New Zealand European woman.