Kate Finn – in Residence
A C4RD Hatley Residency
Kate was born in Teeside, England, and she spent her early childhood in Australia and her teenage years back in the UK. She lives and works in London. Kate is a self taught outsider artist. In her own words, ‘’years spent studying dance and hanging about in theatres and art centres was bound to seep into my bones and brand my creativity’’. Her assemblages are influenced by childhood experiences of reading, travel, museums , theatre- her early memories and images were full of vivid modern staged operas and ballets “as seen from the second row, a little to the left of centre”. Dance also looms large in Kate’s influences – an interest that saw her through her teens as a member of a youth group and then on to professional training at the Ballet Rambert School.
Kate makes dramatic large scale photo collages out of small environments that she builds in 3D. These can be thought of as stage sets, where lines, colour, light and depth are manipulated to show a unique view of the world; small scales scenes are scaled up to large photo print. Here is a raw unapologetic gesture of form, line, and colour. Her work draws the eye and forces the mind to untangle things that don’t seem to make sense. Each piece’s theatricality is drawn from experience, from the memories of someone who has spent time both behind and in front of theatre foot lights.
In drawing terms Kates work collapses the experience of collage and up-ends the world of photoshopped image. What appear to be 2D digital assemblages are in fact in-camera captures. Overall the work shoots from the hip, in its making and phot-production which as process allows the expression, as drawing can do, of the complex expression of a fleeting thought.