Current Works 2026
Originals
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The art of looking slowly
Kate Morgan RI creates large-scale ecosystems that dismantle conventional visual hierarchies to reflect on nature in the Anthropocene. Rejecting immediate resolution in favour of dense, unyielding biological detail, her practice transforms the act of viewing from transient image consumption into an extended, non-linear optical exploration.
The fundamental aim of these sprawling, meticulous paintings is to mount a quiet deliberate rebellion against the relentless digital distractions and material anxieties of modern life by introducing unashamed beauty back into today’s current landscape that has grown claustrophobically obsessed with mirroring human ugliness, distress and the worst traits of digital technology that encourage us to look inwards.
By defiantly and deliberately using the medium of watercolour and pastel into unapologetic, bold, pristine, impossible ecosystems where global wildlife, handcrafted architecture and human entities exist in states of absolute harmonious absorption, Morgan crafts an enduring sanctuary of physical patience; it is a profound visual intervention that refuses to shock or alienate, choosing instead to use an alluring, maximalist aesthetic to heal the fractured modern eye, pull humanity out of the prison of the self, and prove that our hands are capable of leaving a footprint of harmony rather than a scar behind us.
About the artist
Kate Morgan
About the Artist
Kate Morgan MA RI constructs monumental, non-hierarchical ecosystems that interrogate the boundaries between human perception and the natural world in the Anthropocene.
Moving beyond traditional landscape conventions, her practice presents expansive, edge-to-edge compositions devoid of a central focal point. In an era dominated by rapid, screen-based media, her works demand a decelerated, contemplative gaze—inviting serious engagement with overlooked forms of life and intricate ecological interdependencies.
Executed through a meticulous synthesis of watercolour, opaque gouache, and raw pigment on heavy weight cotton rag paper, Morgan’s compositions dismantle the historic expectation of watermedia as a delicate, secondary medium. Each monumental work embeds hundreds of hours of labour-intensive craft directly into its surface, establishing a tactile,velvet-like terrain where physical time, spatial density, and material rigour converge.
Elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 2018, Morgan holds a Master of Arts and has exhibited widely across the UK and internationally. Her practice continues to examine the tension between human presence, craft,and the enduring architecture of the living world.
“I make paintings that cannot be understood in a single glance. At first, the eye encounters a field of colour and detail with nowhere obvious to settle; only through lingering do individual lives, relationships and pathways begin to emerge. At the heart of my work is this movement from looking quickly to seeing deeply—from the noise of first perception towards a more attentive encounter with a world beyond ourselves.”
— Kate Morgan
“My earlier paintings removed the human footprint entirely, giving the whole visual field to other forms of life. More recently, paths, gardens, architecture and objects made by hand have entered these imagined ecosystems—not as proof that harmony is possible, but as a question about the kind of presence humanity might choose to have. I am interested in whether human imagination can create places of hospitality: structures that make room for beauty, abundance and lives beyond our own.”
— Kate Morgan
“The way I make the work is inseparable from what it asks of the viewer. I build each painting slowly, through drawing and repeated layers of watercolour, gouache and pastel, until the paper becomes a dense record of sustained attention. At a time when images are generated and discarded almost instantly, I want the presence of the human hand—and the time held within it—to remain unmistakable.”
— Kate Morgan RI
2026
Architecture of Imagination
I have always been fascinated by painting's ability to create places that exist somewhere between reality and imagination—worlds that invite us to slow down, look more deeply and experience the living world with a renewed sense of wonder. This new collection marks an exciting evolution in that ongoing journey. While my earlier paintings immersed viewers in untamed jungles and underwater worlds, these new works open another door, exploring the extraordinary possibilities that emerge when nature and human creativity exist in harmony.
I want these worlds to unfold slowly, rewarding curiosity with every return.
In a culture that encourages us to consume images in seconds, I hope these paintings ask something different of us. Not ten seconds, but ten minutes. Longer, if possible. The longer we remain with something, the more it reveals. I want looking itself to become an act of exploration, where patience is rewarded, attention is celebrated, and curiosity opens the door to countless discoveries that might otherwise remain unseen.