This young talent merges unexpected materials and offbeat narratives, forging a boundless new frontier in contemporary art.
Bursting out of Vienna with a hunger for experimentation and a perspective shaped by 14 different countries, Katherine Silk is on a mission to reflect her free spirit in steel, lipstick, and anything else she can get her hands on. Growing up on the countryside gave her a sense of freedom that now shows up in mirror-like artworks that set the tone of a space. We dug into painting with animals, dream dinner guests, and the elusive “Jack” that makes an appearance in Katherine’s paintings.
Your “Silk Threads” series showcases the dynamic interplay between steel and light. What inspired you to explore this relationship, and how do you achieve such reflective depth in your pieces?
I make a lot of colorful paintings and I felt kind of distracted from the color so I wanted to find a new material that would speak for itself. I probably like spent the whole summer thinking about the materials. And when I was on Madeira, in Portugal I was like, oh wait, my parents in my childhood were working with steel and I saw the reflectiveness of this material and that it kind of looks like a mirror. I didn’t really like that the canvas you put on a wall usually looks like an addition to the wall. I wanted to have something between mirror and art, because a mirror usually gives more depth to the space itself because it gives this light. I really like that the steel material sometimes looks more warm, sometimes colder, it depends on the personal character of the buyer. So it somehow always adapts to your own interior, your own character.
Your art challenges conventional perceptions of industrial materials by transforming them into reflective, dynamic pieces. What message do you hope viewers take away from this metamorphosis?
I grew up on the country side so I didn’t really have a lot of communication with society when I was young. I didn’t really know borders existed, I just knew that you can lead your life happily with no one saying anything to you. But then once I moved and lived in these 14 different countries, I met so many different people, races, nationalities, like everyone. I realized how many borders we create for ourselves. Maybe our parents taught them to us in our childhoods, but now we’re in our 20s and we still believe in these things. I was trying biochemistry to try to explain to people that you can try different things. People can be genetically opposite and still connect well. So I was really hoping with the steel to show that there are no actual borders until you create them for yourself.
You sketch a lot with lipstick, are there any other unconventional “everyday” mediums with which you choose to create your art and which is your favorite?
I think if you’re an artist that paints a lot at one point you will be like, oh can I paint on this? Can I paint with this? Last year I had a series where I was painting with animals. It was really tough because I wanted to paint with birds but not be harmful. So I was trying to give them different cakes or sweets so they would step on a wet painting. I lived in the countryside so there could be hawks or rabbits running across the artwork.
So now its lipsticks and other makeup materials (shades, bronzers, all of that). I think it’s fun, especially because I’m trying to make art with the materials that are in high demand. Once I have an idea I try to put it to action immediately. That’s what happened with this animal collection, the steel collection, and now with lipstick. As for which material will be next I can’t really tell you.
In your “Jack’s Faces” collection, the character Jack appears in various forms. Could you delve into the symbolism behind Jack and how he serves as a conduit for your artistic expression?
I was painting a lot in creative contemporary art, with really colorful artworks. I was all alone, like everywhere in different countries in my travels. Although I had a lot of people and friends around me, at the end of the day I was still alone. So, I wanted to have a kind of friend that was supporting you in different situations. This friend could be weirder than you, which is why I started to sketch “Jack.” He had a really huge face and unproportional neck and a really long body, something between an alien and human. I painted him in different silhouettes, in different episodes, and he would be doing all sorts of things like stealing blueberries from someone’s pockets.
He [Jack] was something you would look at and think “oh I’m really normal” [in comparison]. And that’s why he just started to appear on all of my artistic artworks that were colorful, because he held a bit of symbolism. When you just look at artwork that is colorful, you’re not having this emotional connection but, as it works in advertisement, you need to have one similar element in your art to what you are going through right now. And when there is even one human being, maybe this “Jack”, you have more of a connection with the artwork than if we would have erased him.
I added him as a supportive friend for anyone who needs him.
Beyond your art, what’s a hobby or interest that your followers might be surprised to learn about?
If we’re thinking exactly from the followers point of view, I would say they probably would be surprised if they knew that I’m a really, really healthy person. I like to wake up at six and go to sleep at nine, like I want to have my proper 10 hours of sleep. I actually never smoke, I don’t drink alcohol, like I’m not eating sugar, I’m trying to be as healthy as I can. That’s probably something that will be surprised because sometimes I get a lot of comments like “wow why do you smoke so much” or “why do drink alcohol so much” or “why are you having a sleepless night” and I actually never do I just think it’s gives this nice aesthetic to the artwork.
I also really like animals and I like to take care of them. I like horse riding and I’ll travel to mountains, peaks or rivers and live there for a week or two. No internet, nothing attached. It’s you, nature and animals. I know how to survive in the forest and everything.
Collaborations, such as the “Liquid Silk x We Are June” project for a Vienna Pilates studio, demonstrate your art’s adaptability. How do you approach creating site-specific works, and what challenges arise when tailoring art to a particular environment?
I think that if you know how to speak with people, you can always make a great collaboration, and can always have a dialogue. I’m coming from this advertisement sphere where I was a creative director and I was working with clients a lot, so it’s not hard to understand what people want.
When I worked with June, it was a dream project. I was completely free with my decisions. When you’re making artwork for someone else, of course, the process is a bit different because you really need to be in the space to figure out how the art will look during the morning or in the evening. People come and go, so you need to know how your artwork will reflect with the light. Design is really helpful for me in this sphere because I can imagine which artwork would be perfect for this exact situation, and then paint knowing what I’m painting for.
Your Instagram often features close-up shots that emphasize the textures and details of your work. What role does texture play in conveying the emotions and narratives within your pieces?
There’s a golden rule for how to perceive artwork correctly. You have three steps. First, you’re going far away from the artwork (as far as you can), perceiving the whole picture, and thinking “what am I feeling right now?” Then, sticking to this emotion, you get as close as you can to look at the textures, the brushstrokes, really going into the details. Lastly you’re going back to look at the artwork again from this far point of view and thinking “what am I feeling now?” This scheme works in the way that you perceive an artwork not really knowing it at first, but once you figure out the textures you get closer to the artwork and understand it better as a human being. The emotion you will feel in the beginning and the emotion you will feel in the end [of this process] will probably be different unless you have a clear perception of your environment. That’s why textures are really important and on social media I can try to simulate this ideal perception.
Your social media captions are often thought-provoking and poetic. How do you craft these narratives, and what do you hope they add to the viewer’s experience of your art?
I have this rule for myself that I’m always doing this from a pure heart. If I don’t want to do this, I’m not. If I do want to do this, I will. But if I know that something works better I push more to that content. Social media is a nice diary but it’s not a diary you make for your own pleasure, you’re making this for them [the followers] so they will feel great and then maybe you will as well. I’m always trying to figure out exactly what they want or at least what they want to feel and if it aligns with me.
I really like captions like “mornings in my studio” or “artist shift” or “another day in the office.” It breaks one of the stereotypes about artists that artists are always poor people who probably paint at the corner of their house and no one accepts them. They suffer from this desire to paint where no one will pay them so it’s not like proper work. If you told your parents you were going to be an artist you would be really lucky if your parents said “of course, that’s a great job.” This is the stereotype. That’s why I emphasize that look, this is a job. It’s nine to five. You’re doing this. You’re working on this. People will pay you money for this. So it’s like you if you want to be an artist, be an artist.
If you could host a dinner party with three artists, past or present, who would you invite, and what topics would you hope to discuss?
There is an artist/performer named Marina Abramović. She did a lot of different contemporary performances across the globe. She had this tough female life and she still managed to make art out of that and turn it into different performances. I would really love to meet her. Maybe Jackson Pollock and Picasso because I just like their style, but I want to understand how they were feeling through each moment. I wouldn’t even ask them anything, I just want to look at them, how they behave, what they’re doing.
How do you decide which moments of your creative process to share over social media, and what do you hope your audience gains from these insights?
I started social media a year ago and it was a huge new level in my life because I figured out I have a lot of masks that I need to peel off that I didn’t know existed. And when I started to peel them off slightly step by step, I figured out that I didn’t even live this life properly. I was following my own plan in my head that I didn’t even like anymore. So the goal of my social media from that point on was to show that you can literally do whatever. I decided that I can use the visual language, the real language, and the art language, combine them together and then through [an Instagram] Reel that is visually stunning and nice to watch, like moving artwork, you can feel this freedom inside you. I always try to find and go through stages and artworks that will show the beauty of freedom.
