Katherine Throne

Katherine Throne (b. 1975 Aotearoa, New Zealand) is a contemporary painter based in Wanaka. The tenacity, vigour and beauty of nature have motivated Throne’s practice for years. The energy the artist feels within a garden she translates into sweeping gestural marks, built-up washes, and thick layers of impasto oil paint.

Throne manipulates paint in a way that mimics light refracting in nature, transporting the viewer into another world. We feel the lavishness of petals, the friction of stems, and the deepness of long shadows. One cannot help but be drawn into each scene; to be touched by the resonating energy of the flora and fauna in her works.

 ‘Capturing the flower’s energy is what I strive to achieve. My paintings push the boundary of the traditional floral motif in the way I apply paint, portraying it as a fearless, beautiful inhabitant of our natural environment. The connection between the garden and my art is that they are both an expression of resilience.’

Throne completed her Masters in Fine Arts at the University of Auckland, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (ELAM) in 2016. She previously completed a BFA in Painting (Honors) with a minor in Interior Design at Kendall College of Art and Design, Michigan USA in 2014 and a Bachelor Of Communication Studies at Auckland University of Technology in 1997. Throne was a finalist in the Molly Morpeth Canaday Award and the Painting & Printmaking Award, Waikato.

 ‘Throne’s sense of humour, evident in her titling, undercuts any sobriety of tone, and plays off against the old meanings given to flowers. Viewed at close range, each of the garden varietals in Throne’s works is caught in the act of asserting its claim for supremacy in the herbaceous border. Clearly these are modern flowers, not bound by the traditional expectations set up by the centuries-old language of the subject.’ – Dr Linda Tyler (art historian)

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