Kate Mayer

I’m Kate Mayer, a London-based contemporary abstract artist creating paintings shaped by sound, colour and emotion. Music has always affected me deeply. As a neurodivergent artist with a heightened sensitivity to sound, I experience it not simply as something I hear, but as vibration, movement and feeling. In the studio, I immerse myself in a song, voice or soundscape until conscious thought begins to recede, allowing its energy to guide my choice of colour, gesture and mark. I’m not trying to illustrate the music; I’m painting from the emotional state it creates within me. My background spans more than 25 years in fashion, textile and interior design. For a long time, my personal work was figurative, detailed and tightly controlled. Joining the London International Gospel Choir became a pivotal moment in my life and practice. Singing collectively helped me find my voice, a community and a connection to something greater than myself. It gave me the freedom to let go of control and move into abstraction. My paintings are built through layers of acrylic, spray paint and textured marks. Many are circular, a form I’m drawn to for its sense of wholeness, continuity and possibility, to me it feels like a window into another world, one you can get lost in. Each work carries the title of the sound that inspired it, preserving a trace of the experience from which it emerged. Ultimately, I create art for people who want to feel something. I believe a painting can do more than complete a room: it can shift its atmosphere, awaken a memory and reconnect us with the energy we want to live by.