Kate Barbee has piqued the interest of the art world with her dynamic depictions of fragmented female bodies in vivid domestic tableaux. Few artists can meld as many painting styles and art historical references as fluidly as Barbee does because few artists have the assuredness to paint as courageously.

A new exhibition of paintings by Kate Barbee abandons the precious sanctity of the canvas. In rosy paintings, figures swirl and mingle, limbs jut out at impossible angles. Just as her figures are deconstructed in a pseudo-Cubist style, her paintings too are cut apart and then stitched back together.

Los Angeles based artist Kate Barbee is not afraid to unabashedly explore the intimate escapism associated with the trials and tribulations of young adulthood in her work. Her vivid large-scale paintings play with an expansive color palette that delineate abstract dreamy figures amidst the presence of mixed media like waxes, scraps of quilts, and other textiles.

She lies on the ground, turns her body towards the canvas that will eventually become a painting full of colour, and starts creating. Dallas-born painter Kate Barbee is carried away by feeling, and needs space to express emotions that can sometimes be difficult to manage. Her latest series focuses on self-portraiture - a necessity during lockdown. I

I must admit, it has been difficult to make work about human connection and the many emotions that come with that, because I have been so isolated. Before all of this, it was easy to just fall into a strange hypnosis and paint my feverish memories or fantasies. The intimate connection that was once easily shared with others has turned inward. I have gone deeper into myself and have challenged my perspective to tap into the collective unconscious.