‘American writer, John Cheever sometimes known as the Chekhov of the suburbs, wrote a short story titled ‘The Swimmer’ where the protagonist, Neddy Merrill, enjoying a Sunday around a swimming pool, drinking too much with friends, decides to swim home. He plans a route through his friend’s suburban backyards and public pools that will eventually reach his home. The journey starts well and along the way he meets and enjoys the company of old friends and acquaintances but as time passes the story becomes darker and slightly surreal. Seasons change and Neddy gets increasingly tired and older. Pools are colder, some are abandoned and his relationships with friends have changed or been lost. When he finally arrives home his house is derelict; the lights are out and his wife and children have left him.

I have let some of these impressions and ideas inform my current cycle of paintings.’ ­— Kate Gottgens, 2022

Kate Gottgens was born in 1965 in Durban, South Africa, and currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. Gottgens graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town, in 1987. She was the recipient of the Ampersand Fellowship Award, resulting in a residency in New York City, USA, in 2019, and was selected for the prestigious Thames & Hudson publication, 100 Painters of Tomorrow in 2014.

Gottgens presented a solo exhibition titled Whispering of Ghosts at the Boschendal Norval Art Gallery, in Stellenbosch South Africa. In 2020, Gottgens presented her critically-acclaimed solo exhibition, Skyglow on Mars Black, at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town. Earlier solo exhibitions include: Tired from Smiling at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town (2017); Famine at SMAC Gallery in Johannesburg (2016); Infinite Loop at SMAC Gallery in Stellenbosch; and Savage Nature at Espacio Liquido in Gijon, Spain (both in 2014); and MALICE Aforethought at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town (2013).

Further selected group exhibitions include: A Show of Solidarity, a group exhibition in support of the South African Solidarity Fund during a nationwide enforced lockdown, at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town (2020); the Ampersand Foundation Award 21 years celebration exhibition curated by Gordon Froud at the University of Johannesburg Art Gallery in Johannesburg; and Suitcase Show, at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, as part of the group show in collaboration with Galleria Massimo Minin, both in 2019; Bathing, curated by Brian Shure at Planthouse Gallery in New York City, USA (2018); Summer Show ’16 at SMAC Gallery in Stellenbosch, South Africa (2016); Imago Mundi, a travelling exhibition held at Museo Carlo Bilotti, Rome and Ca’ dei Carraresi in Treviso, Italy, both in 2014; the 8th New Delhi Triennale in India in 1994 and Scurvy at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town in 1995.

Gottgens’ art fair participation includes a solo booth at Untitled, Art in Miami Beach, USA in 2019, as well as group presentations at artmonte-carlo in Monaco, Artissima in Turin, Italy, and Miart in Milan, among others.