Kate Gottgens

Kate Gottgens is celebrated for her vibrant yet muted interior and poolside scenes that transform the seemingly familiar into something uncanny. Taking stylistic inspiration from the late Pop art and Neo-Expressionist aesthetics of David Hockney, R. B. Kitaj, and Frank Bowling, Gottgens also quotes and appropriates images from art history in both her paintings and works on paper. The eerie expression and pose of the boy hula hooping by a pool in The Spell (2020) illustrates her ability to infuse a seemingly idyllic scene with an air of unease. Gottgens uses variations in the application of paint to emphasize the psychological or atmospheric undertone of a scene; diluted pigments create a listless quality in Couple Lounging (2019) while the deeper, richer colors of the ominously titled Corpse Reviver (2020) suggest something more intense or even violent. Gottgens frequently uses found or personal photographs as a starting point for her work.