Kato Six at M – Museum Leuven

Artist: Kato Six

Curated by: Eva Wittocx

Venue: M – Museum Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Date: October 14, 2022 – February 26, 2023

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and M – Museum Leuven

The Belgian artist Kato Six produces drawings, textile art, wall art and sculptures. Her artistic practice embraces a number of themes which she develops into series or ensembles. Recognizable and everyday materials and objects form the basis of an oeuvre that is a cross between abstract and figurative art. Architecture, design, domesticity and utility objects play an important role as references.

Kato Six’s artworks are the result of various techniques in which physicality and making the works herself are pivotal. The forms and materials often refer to household tasks and handicrafts such as knitting and crocheting. She also makes works out of MDF and other hard materials, such as different types of plastic. These might be Formica or solid surface – synthetics used in the interior, often mimicking natural materials. From this domestic context, she questions our relationship with nature, using landscapes to switch foreground for background and indoors for outdoors.

For this first sizeable exhibition, Kato Six is bringing different kinds of work together for the first time. As well as existing sculptures and drawings, she is presenting a new series of textile art and wall works in situ. The works aim to make us think about the commonplace and elements that surround us on a daily basis, to make us look at them differently and possibly discover new patterns.

Kato Six lives and works in Brussels. She got her master’s degree in visual arts and a master’s degree in graphic design from the KASK in Ghent. She complemented her studies with several residencies at Wiels (Brussels, BE, 2012), ABA (Berlin, DE, 2014), Residency Unlimited (New York, USA, 2016), Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture (Skowhegan, USA, 2017).

Recent solo shows include ‘Background Hum’ at Composite in Brussels (2016), ‘Spinning lines, Twisting feelings’ at CHANGE-CHANGE in Budapest (2017), ‘State of Matter’ at VITRINE gallery in London (2019).

She has also participated in several group exhibitions such as ‘Conjunctions’ at Peninsula Art Space in New York ( 2016), ‘Heads or Tails’ at DMW Gallery in Antwerp (2019) or ‘The Constant Glitch’ at M Leuven (2021). Her work is included in of various collections, such as at Mu.ZEE (Ostend), the Flemish Community and Cera at M Leuven.