All that Glitters, 2022, acrylic and oil stick on paper, approx 150 x 150 cm

Can you see me Now_, 2022, acrylic and oil stick on paper, approx 150 x 150 cm

Tread Softly, 2022, acrylic and oil stick on paper, approx 150 x 150 cm

Katie Carter is a Dorset-based oil painter currently studying MA Painting at Arts University Bournemouth. Focusing on the materiality of paint, Katie’s paintings are characterised by bold mark-making and vibrant colour. She uses oil sticks to apply paint quickly and boldly, yet loosely and intuitively, on a base of several layers of acrylic wash.

The optical play between colour and form enables the negative spaces to maintain shapes of their own, and worlds and spaces are created as the viewer finds abstract shapes within abstract shapes.

Although Katie’s paintings are abstract, there are suggestions of fantasy landscapes or objects in the natural world. The viewer is encouraged to form their own interpretation and through the ambiguity of the images, Katie makes us look at the world differently, gaining new knowledge to help us better understand the world we live in, or shape it into new realities.