Kate Vassallo presented Ripple, a solo exhibition of recent paintings and drawings at Artereal Gallery, Sydney.
Kate’s practice explores the relationship between labour, control, intuition and agency through abstract, often geometric compositions. Her works are built through deliberate and repetitive processes, with carefully applied layers of material creating intricate patterns that invite reflection on light, space, colour and time.
Featuring some of Kate’s most ambitious coloured pencil drawings to date, Ripple continued her exploration of process and repetition. Her drawings often begin with randomly plotted points across the paper, which she gradually develops through thousands of fine, straight lines to form detailed and immersive compositions. The exhibition followed her monumental six-piece drawing, Gain and loss (100 pencils) (2024), measuring 150 × 650 cm, which was created for the 2024 Dobell Australian Drawing Biennale at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
The exhibition held particular significance for both Kate and Artereal Gallery. For Kate, it followed a transformative 2024 in which she completed two major bodies of work years in the making. For Artereal, Ripple marked the gallery’s final exhibition before closing its doors after nearly two decades of supporting experimental and thought-provoking contemporary art.
