After graduating in Fine Art from Oxford Brookes University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Kate Milsom worked in art restoration for many years, where she developed a reverence for authentic materials and an appreciation of the richness and depth of pure pigment.
Kate’s work is rooted in the past, not just because it features historical imagery, but also because she uses the same techniques and chemical processes. She began developing her now distinctive style of “antique surrealism” while on a long stay in Venice in 2006, making use of city-floor ephemera such as museum leaflets. From Kate’s mixture of painted and collaged elements evolve what she calls “intricate scenes of social malfunction”, in which symbolic references abound.
Kate is fascinated with how and why society functions, what ‘rules’ we accept to live by, where they are subverted and who among us is brave enough to pay them no heed. Working in series, her paintings often investigate socio-political themes, using historical comparisons to highlight contemporary issues.
Since 2022, Kate has been working on a series she calls ‘City of Women’, which addresses the misrepresentation of women in history through the medium of traditional portraiture. While men are predominantly painted in reference to their position or occupation, pre-20th-century representations of women generally focus on stereotypical interpretations of feminine beauty. As such, the diverse and fascinating history of the contribution of women in society and the workforce has been largely obscured and dismissed. This series takes us on a global journey spanning eight centuries of feminine endeavour in the arts, sciences, medicine and politics and follows on from the artist’s earlier series ‘No Man’s Land, in which Kate celebrated remarkable, unsung figures in history (principally women) who challenged gender stereotyping in order to live lives of adventure and professional discovery.
Kate’s first triptych in the series was selected for the Platform 2023: Reframing the Muse exhibition within London Art Fair in January 2023. The exhibition explored the muse as an empowered and active agent in the story of art, inviting viewers to consider the instrumental role played by diverse, real-life individuals, past and present, beyond the frame in which they are immortalised.
Kate exhibits widely in gallery shows and at art fairs, including at the Royal West of England Academy Open Exhibition, Bristol, the Society of Women Artists annual exhibition since 2020 (the year she won two SWA awards) and in vis-à-vis at the University of South Wales (2018), in which a selection of 20 images of women from its own Museum Collection were paired with 20 images of women by contemporary artists from Wales. Kate had her first major solo show with Martin Tinney Gallery in 2018, following a group show there in 2017.
Kate has shown work with Gala Fine Art at art fairs such as Battersea Affordable Art Fair several times since 2015. She has also had work included in selected exhibitions in London, at The Menier Gallery, The Gallery Cork Street, and The Chelsea Arts Club. Kate has an increasing following of private European collectors from Southern France to Croatia.
We were thrilled to show a brand new triptych of paintings entitled ‘Dangerous to Know’ from Kate’s ‘City of Women’ series in our 10-year anniversary group exhibition, Gala Fine Art: 10 Year, 14 Artists, at The Coningsby Gallery, London, in autumn 2025.
