Kate Shaw goes into nature. Not because she is depressed or going through a divorce. Like those who do venture into nature for its spiritual virtues and therapeutic powers, Shaw gathers knowledge and inspiration from the beauty, strength and complexity of the natural world and translates that into paintings (and more recently video) that challenge us as viewers to acknowledge our personal relationship to the natural world and asks us to question what landscape painting conveys about culture and our moment in history. Like Rorschach tests we decipher her works, each of us taking something

a little different away. A perpetual wanderer, Shaw’s travels in to nature have taken her to the varied landscapes of her native Australia, the jungles of Costa Rica, the vast terrain of the United States (including the surreal landscape

of Las Vegas), and most recently the other-worldly topography of Iceland. Each of these locations has informed her work through their unique scenery and geography. Each offers specific imagery, colors, light and mood; however, her works are not pictures of these places. Distilled through her use of heightened color and abstracted form, Shaw captures the essence

and spirit of each, yet they function as universal places recognised by all no matter where we are on the earth. These are paintings which capture our collective imagination of the ideas and ideals of landscape because as the artist stated “…we

are all made from the same stuff and all connected.” Shaw understands\that, as the historian Simon Schama writes, “For although we are accustomed to separate nature and human perception into two realms, they are, in fact, indivisible. Before it can ever be repose for the senses, landscape is the work of the mind. Its scenery is built up as much from

strata of memory as from layers of rock."

William Stover, Curator, Writer Catalogue essay 2013