Katie Hector uses dye and bleach to create cathartic portraits

The artist transforms the myriad of messy emotions she felt during the pandemic into stunning paintings.

Date
5 October 2022

Share

Deep in the bleach and dye-filled crevices of Katie Hector’s paintings are allegories for longing, intimacy and grief, mainly “in response to isolation and dissociation” during the Covid-19 pandemic, she tells It’s Nice That. The California-based artist has a practice which revolves around layering dye and bleach to create beautiful paintings that almost appear as if they’re photographs on negative film. For Katie, revisiting her nurtured craft of painting during the pandemic proved to be incredibly cathartic. Gone were the tools of acrylic and traditional paints. What laid before Katie instead were an array of unconventional tools that test the limits of the fibres and the “canvas’ ability to retain or let go of pigment”.

It’s a fascinating mode of work, as well as incredibly rewarding. She’s won numerous awards and scholarships for her work, and continues to dazzle with her fascination of the colourful grotesque. For Katie, it’s all about how “the memory of the surface produces the final after image, an impression of personhood, an uncanny portrait".

Above

Katie Hector: Patience (Copyright © Katie Hector, 2021)

Above
Left

Katie Hector: Persephone (Copyright © Katie Hector, 2022)

Right

Katie Hector: Vibrant Matter (Copyright © Katie Hector, 2022)

Above

Katie Hector: Vibrant Matter (Copyright © Katie Hector, 2022)

Above

Katie Hector: Quiet Break (Copyright © Katie Hector, 2022)

Above

Katie Hector: Disassociation (Copyright © Katie Hector, 2021)

Above
Left

Katie Hector: Angel (Copyright © Katie Hector, 2022)

Right

Katie Hector: Get in the Car (Copyright © Katie Hector, 2021)

Above

Katie Hector: Get in the Car (Copyright © Katie Hector, 2021)

Above

Katie Hector: Lamentation (Copyright © Katie Hector, 2022)

Above

Katie Hector: Elijah (Copyright © Katie Hector, 2021)

Hero Header

Katie Hector: Beatrice (Copyright © Katie Hector, 2022)

Share Article

Further Info

About the Author

Joey Levenson

Joey is a freelance design, arts and culture writer based in London. He was part of the It’s Nice That team as editorial assistant in 2021, after graduating from King’s College, London. Previously, Joey worked as a writer for numerous fashion and art publications, such as HERO Magazine, Dazed, and Candy Transversal.

It's Nice That Newsletters

Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox? Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world.