Kate Smith’s paintings lay bare the conventions and challenges of the medium. Wry, witty yet critically perceptive, her works are active sites of negotiation in which opposing elements defiantly co-exist. Combining confident brushstrokes with hesitant gestures, Smith produces small-scale compositions that hover between figuration and abstraction. In playful subversion of the very tradition to which her work belongs, Smith overlays Western art historical references with personal narratives and often incorporates sculptural or relief elements. Her works deliberately eschew resolution in favour of a certain open ended-ness; for Smith the process of painting is one of constant re-evaluation.

Select solo exhibitions: Easel Works, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2024; Guzzler, Melbourne, 2022; Form is temporary, class is permanent, Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga, 2020; No more American sadness in music or film, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2019; An Impression of an impression, Sutton Gallery. Melbourne, 2017; Soily, TCB, Melbourne, 2016; If your into anything, you’ll always find your own morality play, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2014; A Country Practice, Switchback Gallery, Gippsland, 2013; Deep Privacy/Convex, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2012; Teenage Boi Boi Sounds, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, 2011; Studio 12, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, 2011; Freda Cimmons is hungover, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, 2010; Monkey makes a painting, Y3K Gallery, Melbourne, 2010; You’re the c**t, donut, Ocular Lab, Melbourne, 2009; it’s a practice, CCAS Manuka Space, Canberra, 2007.

Select group exhibitions: Thresholds, Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA), Albury, NSW, 2024; The Abduction of Ganymede, Conners Conners, Melbourne, 2023; Zombie Eaters, Murray Art Museum Albury, 2022; the drawing is just not there, West Space, Melbourne, 2018; I <3 Pat Larter, Neon Parc, Brunswick, 2017; Painting, More Painting, ACCA, Melbourne, 2016; Do sumn’, TCB, Melbourne, 2015; Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2013; Collage: The Heide Collection, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2013; Third/Fourth: Melbourne artist facilitated Biennial, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne, 2013; Anything, Everything and One Other Thing (Parts 1-5), Alaska Projects, Sydney, 2012; Gertrude Studios 2011, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, 2011.