Did You Know...

"...just as life itself is diverse, so are the forms and functions of the cells that constitute life... Whatever it's form, however it moves the cell is the basic unit of all living matter"
John Pfeiffer, The Cell 1964, Time Inc.

Katie Mahoney

2nd January – 30th January 2003

Katie specialised in Fine Art at Coventry University. Her dissertation explored artists who used materials that would often offend or disgust the viewer, materials such as body parts, blood or even corpses.

Through this research Katie became fascinated with the idea that subject matter, which was often referred to as disgusting or unpleasant, could also be visually beautiful instead of shocking.

Her work now finds its base in human body cells that carry disease; she uses the shapes of the cells as a visual resource drawing aesthetic qualities from their organic structure.

“When I began this body of work I was concentrating on finding new ways of creating the images I wanted using different paint techniques, these were often process based and this initial stage involved a lot of experimentation.

I tried using many different materials in varying combinations to achieve the desired effects. I was very excited with the results of mixing paint and ink together, but ultimately the materials I chose to create my paintings were white paint and food dye, when they were used together on a wet canvas the fusion of the colours as the materials meet is exactly the effect I required. I liked the fact that to a certain extent the outcome was unplanned/uncontrollable.

The randomness of the final image seemed to sit well with the subject, the paintings evolved just as the cells had."