Kate Waters
Kate Waters (*1964 in Vallée Lourdes, Canada) is a Canadian painter who has lived and worked in Düsseldorf since the early 1990s. Her work is dedicated to the precise observation of urban environments and the seemingly subtle poetics of everyday situations. During her studies at the Bath Academy of Art (1983–1987), as well as at Central Saint Martins School of Art and the Slade School of Art in London (1988–1991), Waters developed the characteristic interplay between photographic effects and painterly possibilities that continues to define her artistic practice today.
At the center of Kate Waters’ work are scenes from the public realm: bustling pedestrian zones, elegant cafés, dimly lit bars, and recognizable urban spaces where people casually meet, linger, or stroll by day and night. At first glance, the scenes she captures resemble snapshots or chance moments frozen in time. Upon closer inspection, however, her works reveal a rich atmospheric and narrative quality. It is here that the uniqueness of the everyday becomes apparent—an everydayness that Waters elevates to a monumental scale through large-format paintings and an intensive painting process.
Her works usually originate from photographic images, which she subsequently edits digitally before transforming them into hyperrealistic pictorial compositions. Photographic phenomena such as overexposure, blur, and pronounced contrasts between light and shadow are translated into painting by Waters. Precision and ambiguity coexist, as do the fleeting and the enduring. Everyday observations become quiet narratives shaped by anonymity and intimacy, movement and stillness. Rather than focusing on spectacular events, Waters is interested in the quiet intensity of ordinary moments. Her paintings serve as documents of a subjective intensification of lived reality. They explore the inconspicuous nuances of human interaction that often go unnoticed in daily life.
Solo exhibitions
Where do you stop and I begin, Odon Wagner Gallery, Toronto, CA
I'll see you when I get there, Galerie Frey, Salzburg, AT
Come as you are, Galerie Wolfgang Jahn, Landshut, DE
Land of Plenty, Galerie Frey, Wien, AT
Driven to Distraction, Anna Jill Lüpertz Gallery, Hamburg, DE
It takes one to know one, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
My Place or Yours, Galerie Frey, Salzburg, AT
Love Shacks and other Hidouts, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
Whistling in the Dark, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
Tell it like it is, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
After You, Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brüssel, BE
The Air that I breathe, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
The Land of Kubla Khan, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
The Solo Project, Basel, CH
Getting used to the 21st Century, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
Midnight Oil, Institut Français de Cologne, Köln, DE
Killing Time, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
Twenty-Four Seven, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
Absolute Tourism, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
Group exhibitions
Peter Frey Gallery, Verona, IT
Forever. Bubox , Kortrijk, BE
Prememories. Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brüssel, BE
So many Steps so little Time. De Bond, Brügge, BE
Humble me, Aeroplastics Contemporary, Brüssel, BE
Sein oder nicht sein. Das zeitgenössiche Porträt, Munichmodern, München, DE
Hoodoo Eternity, Aeroplastics contemporary, Brüssel, BE
Summer 2012, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
Es werde Dunkel! Nachtdarstellungen in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr, Mülheim/Ruhr, DE
Es werde Dunkel! Nachtdarstellungen in der zeitgenössischen Kunst, Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen, Bietigheim-Bissingen, DE
Gemeinsam in Bewegung – Contemporary Art from Germany and China, Museum of Art, Wuhan, CN
Summer 2008, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
Summer 2007, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
Neue Malerei, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden – Baden, DE
Gallery Thomas Cohn, Sao Paulo, BR
Guidi & Schoen arte contemporanea, Genoa, IT Dreams are my Reality, La B.A.N.K., Paris, FR Pencil, Carter Presents, London, UK
Auftakt, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
Ask for II, Waßermann Galerie, München, DE
Centrum Kunstlicht in de Kunst, Eindhoven, NL
Galeria Mario Sequeira, Braga, PT
Galerie Jahn, Landshut, DE
Twenty-four Seven, Galerie Voss, Düsseldorf, DE
Airport Gallery, Frankfurt a. M., DE
Malerei, Galerie Jahn, Landshut, DE
Friends & Relations, Galerie Hohmann, Hamburg, DE
Malerei und Photography, Kunstverein Gütersloh, DE
Crossing, Galerie Herzzentrum, Völklingen, DE
Zukunft Malerei, Galerie von Tempelhoff, Karlsruhe, DE
Et l’homme créa la femme, Fifty One Fine Art Photography, Antwerpen, BE
Gibt es eine weibliche Ästhetik?, Kulturförderverein Hirschberg, DE
Goethe Museum, Düsseldorf, DE
Exneuron, Malkasten Düsseldorf, DE
Far 2 close, Leimener Kunstverein (with N. Nüssle), Leimen, DE
Junge englische Kunst, Ascherslebener Kunstverein, Aschersleben, DE
Selected works Enquire about available works
