Kate Vassallo is an Australian visual artist of Maltese heritage currently based in Kamberri/Canberra, Australia

Artist Statement

When making artworks, my focus is setting the scene for something to happen in the studio. Using rules and parameters, I develop fully fleshed out “systems” of materially focused steps. Usually highly repetitious, these processes slowly unfold over time. 

Setting myself a structure to work within, I operate with discipline and concentration in the studio. This structured approach is visually echoed in the formal geometric shapes and straight lines. While the steps I set myself when making these works are preplanned and formulated, I always leave space for agency, intuition and chance to enter the fold. The composition and shapes that build up these works are dictated by chance, rather than control.

My artworks are a labour of love, spending highly focused time, along with mental and physical energy, building up their surfaces. This time and labour means I feel quite personally connected to my studio output, like a small piece of myself is imbedded in my works.

Using this abstract visual language and specific material qualities I have developed in the studio, I want to elicit soft sensations of light, space, time, memory and nostalgia. I am also interested in using abstraction to communicate visualisations of process, labour, control, chance, freedom and agency.

artist bio

Kate Vassallo is an Australian visual artist of Maltese heritage, born and based on Ngunnawal Country in Kamberri/Canberra. Working across painting, drawing and installation, she considers labour, control and time through visual abstraction.

Vassallo graduated from the Australian National University School of Art in 2010 with First Class Honours and a University Medal. She has since exhibited regularly throughout Australia, including recent exhibitions at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery and Wangaratta Art Gallery. She is a regular finalist in art prizes nationally and also has an active public artwork practice working with large scale installation.

Her artworks are held in the collections of Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artbank, Canberra Health Services, Goulburn Regional Gallery, Goulburn Mulwaree Council, Megalo Print Studio (Canberra) and Ovolo Group (Sydney), as well as private collections throughout Australia and the USA.

Collaborative Practice

Vassallo also has a collaborative practice with fellow visual artist James Lieutenant. When collaborating, the pair focuses on large-scale, abstract, graphic wall paintings that respond to architectural spaces. They have exhibited at a number of institutions across Australia, including Artbank, Canberra Museum and Gallery, Bus Projects (Melbourne) and Canberra Contemporary Art Space, as well as working on private commissions and public art projects.