About Kat:
Katie Hagen (Kat), neé Mather
Visual Artist & Chartered Architect
Born and raised in the UK, though resident in Norway since 1997.
Educated at Edinburgh College of Art, Heriot Watt University, Scotland (1991-1997) Kat’s background is as both a Chartered Architect and Visual Artist. Kat founded her own architectural practice, Context AS, In 2004. However, while attending Slade School of Fine Art (Summer School), University College London in 2013, she recognised a profound desire to return wholly to art. After deep introspection, in 2018 Kat left a long and successful career in architecture to focus fully on her art practice - A practice that lies at the intersection between painting and sculpture, which expands into (site specific) installation and performance.
Member of NBF - Norwegian Sculptors Society
Member of NBK - National Association of Norwegian Visual Artists
Former member of both RIBA (The Royal Institute of British Architects) & MNAL (The National Association of Norwegian Architects)
Artist Statement:
Artist as a way of being
Henry Millar (American artist / writer, 1891-1980) has a quote that resonates within me - “To paint is to love again, and to love is to live life to the fullest”. I cannot not paint - It's who I am.
My artistic drive comes from within - from an innate desire to explore, to create and to learn things about myself, my connection to and within the world around me, and my relationship/s to and with others. The contradiction between lasting transformation and ephemerality, the fragility of life and the space left by someone – a being - who is gone, grief (love) in all its nuances is a recurring theme connecting my works, both past, present and future.
I allow my works the freedom to evolve intuitively while simultaneously being intentional regarding the materials I use. They can be regarded as living sculptures that change over time in dialog with each other and in response to the physical spaces in which they are presented. I enjoy both the metaphorical power and the literal connection to place and matter that a specific rock, pigment or element can bring to work. Fire from deep within the Earth, ‘captured’ and frozen in time, my use of basalt in some of my earlier works alludes to the lava fields and black volcanic beaches of Iceland. The fire suggesting a human presence dating back to prehistoric times rests in the burnt remains of Bone Black in my current works. While the chromatic blacks I created for my ‘Simply Kat’ works, depict ‘colours hidden in plain sight’, visible only to those who care to take a closer look.
Our relationship with fire is primal - a deeply ingrained aspect of human experience. We carry fire within us. Fire can gather, nourish, nurture and protect. Fire can also destroy, consume, devour, overwhelm. My fascination with fire however is rooted in its ability to bring about change and transformation, both in the physical world and in our inner selves.
Ochres (“Iron Earths”) are consistently present throughout the cultural records of humanity and could suggest a deep permanence and embodied wisdom, and my use of them could seem contradictory, almost out of place to the idea of impermanence, burnt remains and our ephemerality. Yet, both are intrinsically linked to us, our humanity, our psyche.
Burnt earth pigments (ochres) appear for the first time in my painting ‘Anam Cara’ (soul friend) November 2022, and then again in ‘Embodied Fire’ August 2023. I found myself instinctively drawn to these pigments. The allure of ochre – “Iron Earths” - and their presence in my current works is connected to profound loss, both on an individual and collective level. It’s almost as if I did not choose the Ochres (Iron Earths) of my current works, they chose me.
There is something deeply captivating about ochre, being close to the earth, being able to connect with and feel part of something more than one’s individual self. The astrophysicist Freeman Dyson has theorised “that all matter eventually decays to iron” and goes on to state that “a star will almost immediately start to collapse in on itself once iron is introduced” (ref Heidi Gustafson, ‘Book of Earth’). A statement I find intriguing. Rather whimsically I relish the idea of being able to connect my current use of “Iron Earths” to both our bodies here on Earth and the stars of the cosmos
Rjukan : Oslo
Tel: +47 92281724 Email : kat@kat-art.no
