Kate Mackay: Everything at once

Painter and sculptor Kate Mackay works within the genre of the non-objective and geometric abstraction. Her work is an exploration of repetition, process and random difference within uniformity, in which a series of works is created by repeated combinations of simple elements, often leading to inevitable imperfections.

Everything at Once brings together a series of oil‑on‑canvas works into a single large‑scale installation. Each painting translates a written quote—from artists, writers and philosophers spanning 320 BC to 2024—into a geometric field of squares and circles, turning reflections on art‑making into visual patterns that obscure their original meaning.

Using stencils to make the work introduces chance into the process, randomising colour placement and revealing unexpected relationships. When assembled, the individual works also generate a new, accidental narrative. Across the installation, chance, process and perception shape both the making of the works and the meanings that surface.

Kate Mackay, 2 pieces (detail), oil on canvas. Image courtesy of the artist.