'I am excited by the power abstraction has to communicate in ways other language can’t. I see my practice as an ebb and flow of controlling and letting go; setting up structures to work within, but also surrendering to the process.'
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, Vassallo considers labour, control and time through visual abstraction.
When making, she designs complex sets of rules and systems to work within. Heavily focused on materiality, this disciplined creative process is repetitious and slow moving. While structured and preplanned, equally important to Vassallo is leaving space for agency, intuition and chance. Her practice is an ebb and flow of control and letting go, while wanting to create artworks that elicit soft sensations of light, space, time and memory.
Graduating 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. A frequent finalist in national art prizes, her practice has also expanded into public artwork installation. Her artworks are held in significant collections, including Art Gallery of New South Wales, Artbank and University House at the ANU, as well as private collections throughout Australia, New Zealand and the USA.