Sydney born, Melbourne based, artist Kate McKenzie Lewis’ work is steeped in the Australian landscape.

Painting and the bush have been two constants in Kate’s life. Time spent in Booderee Country (Jervis Bay), Gadubanud lands in the Victorian Otways and Taungarung Country (The Victorian Alps) has given Kate the opportunity to explore the visual intersection of place, process and paint.

In 2022 Kate achieved a Masters in Contemporary Art from the VCA, University of Melbourne. Since graduation she has continued her journeys into the Australian bush and coast, painting smaller ‘en plein air’ works, as well as larger ‘alla prima’ (in one sitting) pieces back in her Melbourne studio - forever blurring lines between fiction and reality.

Lewis’ manipulation of perspective, light, colour and scale, piques the viewers curiosity creating an oscillation between imagined moments and real memory. Kate's work is transportive; the country she depicts both stirs and subverts the viewer's memory.

Kate’s paintings are a distillation of the moments when you lay your eyes on something glorious - a kind of oily record keeping. For Kate, these moments spring up most commonly when out walking or running in the bush. Drawn to the oil-laden Australian landscape and entangled within her eucalypts, Kate grapples with the complicated tension of the land. The languid lines of a eucalypt under the relentless sun have a natural friend in oil paint. Kate’s landscapes are kinetic yet forgiving and shimmer with a vividity that betrays the laconicism of an often harsh and ancient land.

Kate was a finalist in The Hadley’s Art Prize 2022 and the 2024 Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize.