Kate Spencer Stewart
b. 1984 in Phoenix, AZ, US
Lives and works in Los Angeles, US
Kate Spencer Stewart is a painter working with the hesitations, suspicions and instincts of abstraction and refusal. Her works, usually in oil and tempera on linen canvases, are always square, as a gesture of avoidance to suggest the representation of either portraiture or landscape. Ranging between vast fields and focused vignettes, each painting represents Stewart’s attempt to paint ‘nothing, or the void’. Her process unfolds through repetitive mark-making on top of underpaintings that are often in secret contrast with the final coat: she re-examines and reiterates the surface with overlays of crushed pigment and iridescent oil. Drawn to the impossibilities of capturing ambience, hum and atmosphere, Stewart layers the earthiest and most synthetic materials to offer a view toward transcendence.
b. 1984 in Phoenix, AZ, US
Lives and works in Los Angeles, US
Kate Spencer Stewart is a painter working with the hesitations, suspicions and instincts of abstraction and refusal. Her works, usually in oil and tempera on linen canvases, are always square, as a gesture of avoidance to suggest the representation of either portraiture or landscape. Ranging between vast fields and focused vignettes, each painting represents Stewart’s attempt to paint ‘nothing, or the void’. Her process unfolds through repetitive mark-making on top of underpaintings that are often in secret contrast with the final coat: she re-examines and reiterates the surface with overlays of crushed pigment and iridescent oil. Drawn to the impossibilities of capturing ambience, hum and atmosphere, Stewart layers the earthiest and most synthetic materials to offer a view toward transcendence.
Frag, 2024Oil on linen
35 × 35 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Emalin, London
Photo: Marten Elder
Phthaloish, 2025Oil on linen
110 x 110 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Emalin, London
Photo: Marten Elder
Terme, 2025Oil and tempera on linen sized with rabbitskin glue
35 × 35 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Emalin, London
Photo: Marten Elder
Troche, 2025Oil on linen sized with rabbit skin glue
56 × 56 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Emalin, London
Photo: Marten Elder
