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In a shift from the birds and flowers represented in her 'Small Deaths' series, Australian-born artist-photographer Kate Breakey is now presenting a body of dramatic and beautiful still life works that are elegant in their simple forms and rich textures.
Influenced by the photo-realistic quality of 16th century Dutch and Spanish still life paintings, Ms. Breakey draws upon her knowledge of art history and first-hand experience viewing these art works to create contemporary still lifes with a traditional and familiar feeling. Her compositions with suspended fruit are reminiscent of Juan Sanchez Cotan paintings of the late 1500s, however Ms. Breakey's use of both photography and painting allows her to create completely fresh and inventive art works that blur the line between fact and fiction.
Returning to a genre that she began exploring over ten years ago, Ms. Breakey takes traditional still life subject matter such as fruits, bowls and cups, fabrics, and flowers, and with her large-scale format and soft handling of paint transforms the rudimentary into something altogether refreshing.
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Kate Breakey's work appears in numerous public and private collections. Her work can also be found in many museum collections, including: the Australian National Gallery, Caberra, ACT, Australia; the Centre Nationale de la Photographie, Paris, France; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX; Osaka Museum, Osaka, Japan; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA; Harry Ranson Humanities Research Center, Photography Collection, The University of Texas at Austin, TX; Center for Creative Photogrpahy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ; Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX; as well as many other institutions.
After living in Austin for nearly 10 years, Kate now resides in Tucson, Arizona.
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 Interactive Exhibition
Kate Breakey 2004 Bio
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