B. 1975, Manchester, England. Lives and works in Hertfordshire, England.
British painter Katy Moran starts her works on small square canvases on top of an original image—often a cropped picture found on the internet or torn out of a magazine. She reworks the image until it disappears beneath frantic layers of paint. Moran’s improvisational, stop-and-start process recalls Richter’s squeegee paintings; both use speed and revision to let chance interrupt composition.
Moran’s brushmarks, drips, and smudges animate works like Heartset (assimilation) (2023). Her impulsive mark-making recalls Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (648-2) (1987), where dense sweeps of color are broken by sudden, resistant patches. How to Paint Like an Athlete (2023), for instance, shows Moran’s physical approach to painting. Each swipe and drag of color feels like a test of strength and motion, recalling Richter’s athletic gestures across the canvas.
An alum of the Royal College of Art, Moran is represented by Pippy Houldsworth Gallery and Sperone Westwater. Her solo exhibitions have been presented by the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, and Tate St. Ives, among others. Pippy Houldsworth Gallery mounted her most recent solo show in London earlier this year.
