Katherine Simpson

New Zealand Painter BFA

My work explores the tension between what is seen and what is hidden. I build the surface, attack it, bury it, strip it back and expose it again. Nothing is fixed. Everything remains in motion.

James Wallace Collection - Labyrinth

New Work 2026

Past Work

Who Am I

My instinct to make things started in childhood.I was always building, joining, altering and experimenting — usually in my dad's shed, finding odd materials and putting them together to see if I could make them work, or simply make them look good. That curiosity has stayed with me. Painting has become another way of constructing, dismantling and discovering.I work mainly on board and paper, using mixed media including acrylic, oil and pencil. I don't begin with a completely resolved image. I start with marks, fragments and a set of ideas, then allow the painting to take over. I prefer working alone, spending time looking, responding and making decisions without interruption.Some paintings take months to resolve. I can reach a point where I want to abandon a work, but something keeps drawing me back to it — an area that isn't working, a balance that hasn't been found, something that needs to change. Eventually the painting shifts. Often the final work is something I couldn't have predicted at the beginning, and that element of surprise is one of the things I value most.I am drawn to the tension between what is seen and what is hidden. I build the surface, attack it, bury it, strip it back and expose it again. Nothing is completely fixed. Earlier marks remain beneath later ones, creating a history within the painting.Balance, space and time are central to my work. I am interested in the tension between structure and spontaneity, control and chance, stillness and movement. Space allows a painting to breathe. Quiet areas and moments of pause can be just as important as the marks themselves. What is left out can be as significant as what is placed on the surface.Time is held within the layers. A painting can move backwards as easily as forwards. Something may be erased, covered or sanded away, only to reappear later in another form. The surface becomes a record of its own making — a collection of decisions, interruptions, accidents and discoveries.I am drawn to the space between abstraction and recognition. Forms can gradually suggest landscape, architecture the human figure or animals without ever becoming completely defined. Figurative elements often appear unexpectedly, almost subliminally. I don't deliberately put them there; they emerge through the process. Sometimes they are quiet, sometimes slightly humorous, and sometimes they seem to carry a meaning that I only recognise afterwards.I also have recurring motifs that find their way into the work. A flag, for example, might appear as a practical form, a disruption within the composition, a reference to something personal, or simply because the painting needs something to happen in that space. I like that a single motif can operate on different levels.Ultimately, I don't want to tell the viewer exactly what to see. I want to leave enough uncertainty for the painting to remain alive.For me, painting is a process of searching — looking, waiting, responding, removing and rebuilding. The finished work carries the evidence of that search within its surface.And perhaps that takes me back to where it began: making something, not always knowing exactly what it will become, and being surprised when it finally works.

c o l l e c t i o n sJames Wallace / The Arts House Trust
Auckland City Council
Bank of Japane x h i b i t i o n s1996
Whitecliffe Gallery - Group
Whitecliffe Gallery – Solo
1997
Chiaroscuro Gallery - Group
Chiaroscuro Gallery – Solo
2002
King and Teppett - Group
Gillan Gallery - Group
Gillan Gallery - Solo
2003
Gillan Gallery - Solo
Gillan Gallery - Group
Kamo - Group
2004
The Gully Lounge - Group
Gillan Gallery - Group
Gillan Gallery - Solo
2005
King and Teppett - Group
Palette Gallery - Group
Palette Gallery - Solo
2006
Edmiston Duke Gallery - Group
Edmiston Duke Gallery - Solo
2007
Oriel Gallery - Group
Oriel Gallery - Solo
2008 NKB Gallery - Group
NKB Gallery - Group
2009
NKB Gallery - Solo
NKB Gallery - Group
2010
NKB Gallery - Group
NKB Gallery - Partner
Mansfield Gallery - Group
2011
NKB Gallery - Group
Mansfield Gallery - Group
NKB Gallery – Group
Gallery 59 - Group
NKB Gallery - Partner show
2012
NKB Gallery – Solo
Gallery 59 – Group
NKB Gallery – Group
Gallery 59 – Group
NKB Gallery – Group
2013
NKB Gallery - Group
2014
NKB Gallery - Solo
NKB Gallery - Group
2017
NKB Gallery - Partner
2026
Back into it!

Follow Me / Contact Me / Commissions welcomePhone / Text 027 2740076 or submit enquiry below

$8,000