Kate Newby (b. 1979, Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand) creates site-responsive works that are inserted directly into exhibition spaces and surrounding areas. Newby creates handmade, crudely constructed sculptural interventions that simultaneously connect and contrast their environments. Drawing out both the physical and poetic qualities of materials (usually materials such as concrete, textiles, glass, and ceramics), her work explores whether situational context can be just as informative as materiality and content. Underpinning Newby’s process is a performative ethos: she investigates the way material interventions made in response to a site’s particular temporal, physical, and geographical conditions can be a means of transformation and intervention.
Newby received her Doctorate of Fine Art in 2015 from the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland. She has shown internationally at galleries and museums including Feuilleton, Los Angeles (2020); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2019); The Institut d’Art Contemporain, Villeurbanne (2019); Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen (2018); Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna (2018); 21st Biennale of Sydney, Sydney (2018); Sculpture Center, New York (2017); Index – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation, Stockholm (2017); Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland (2015); Marianne Boesky, New York (2015); Lulu, Mexico City (2014); Arnolfini, Bristol (2014) and Fogo Island Gallery, Newfoundland (2013), among others. Newby has undertaken residencies at The Chinati Foundation, TX (2017), Artpace, TX (2017) and Fogo Island (2013). In 2019, she was a recipient of The Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant. Newby currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, USA.
CV
Kate Newby
Born 1979, Aotearoa, New Zealand
Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, USA
Education
2015
Doctorate of Fine Art, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland
2007
Masters of Fine Art, Elam School of Fine Arts (1st Class Honors), University of Auckland
2001
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2020
Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand (Forthcoming)
Peana Projects, Monterey, Mexico (Forthcoming)
Shimmer, Rotterdam, Netherlands (Forthcoming)
As Far As You Can, Feuilleton, Los Angeles, USA
2019
Bring Everyone, Fine Arts, Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Loved like a sunbeam, Madragoa, Lisbon, Portugal
Nothing in my life feels big enough, Cooper Cole, Toronto, Canada
Wild was the night, The Institut d’Art Contemporain (IAC), Villeurbanne, France
A puzzling light and moving. (Part II and Part III), The Lumber Room, Portland, USA
2018
Nothing that’s over so soon should give you that much strength, Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway
All the stuff you already know, The Sunday Painter, London, United Kingdom
Kate Newby. I can’t nail the days down, Kunsthalle Wien, Wien, Austria
Swift little verbs pushing the big nouns around, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand
2017
Let me be the wind that pulls your hair, Artspace, San Antonio, USA
2016
Big Tree. Bird’s Eye. Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand
Tuesday evening. Sunday afternoon. Stony Lake, COOPER COLE, Toronto, Canada
2015
Two aspirins a vitamin C tablet and some baking soda, Laurel Doody, Los Angeles, USA
Always humming, curated by Helen Hughes and Pip Wallis, Gertrude
Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia
I memorized it I loved it so much, Laurel Gitlen, New York, USA
Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, Australia
2014
Laura, Lucy, Mark and Felix, MODELAB, Wellington, New Zealand
I feel like a truck on a wet highway, Lulu, Mexico City, Mexico
Tiny-but-adventurous, Rokeby, London, UK
2013
Maybe I won’t go to sleep at all, curated by Anne-Claire Schmitz, La Loge, Brussels, Belgium
Let the other thing in, curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen, Fogo Island Gallery, Newfoundland, Canada
What a day. Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland, New Zealand
How funny you are today, New York, Greene Acres Garden, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, USA
2012
Crawl out your window, Walters Prize exhibition, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand
All parts. All the time., Olive St. Garden, in association with New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and International Studio and Curatorial Program ISCP, Brooklyn, USA
How funny you are today New York, Fort Greene Park, in association with New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and International Studio and Curatorial Program ISCP, Brooklyn, USA
2011
Do more with your feeling, Sunday Art Fair with Hopkinson Mossman, London, UK
I’m just like a pile of leaves, curated by Natasha Conland, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
I’ll follow you down the road, Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland, New Zealand
2010
Crawl out your window, curated by Janneke de Vries, GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen, Germany
Burnt house. A little later, Gambia Castle, Auckland, New Zealand
2009
Get off my garden, Sue Crockford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Blow wind blow, Y3K Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2008
Thinking with your body, Gambia Castle, Auckland, New Zealand
2007
My Poetry, for example, Rooftop and vacant plot, Symonds Street, University of Auckland, New Zealand
On the Benefits of Building, Gambia Castle, Auckland, New Zealand
A Windy Fire, Te Tuhi, Auckland, New Zealand
2005
Very Interesting, Very International, site-specific projects; Agile, Brooklyn, Berlin, Copenhagen
2002
My Blues Song, Starkwhite, Auckland, New Zealand
Selected Group Exhibitions
2020
La mer imaginaire, Foundation Carmignac, Porqueolles, France (Forthcoming)
Higher! Higher! Lower, Lower. Louder! Louder! Softer, Softer, Shimmer, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Patterns 11, Anne Mosseri-Marlio Gallerie, curated by Michelle Grabner, Basel, Switzerland
Tiny Things, SEPTEMBER, Hudson, USA
2019
Motion & Motive, Susan Hobbs, Toronto, Canada
City Prince/sses, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Garden of Cyrus, Fortnight Institute, New York, USA
Indus 2, Galerie Art : Concept, Paris, France
Unexplained Parade, Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver, Canada
Notebook, curated by Joanne Greenbaum, 56 Henry, New York, USA
Elements, curated by Svea Kellner, Neues Kunsthaus, Ahrenshoop, Germany
2018
Juliette Blightman, Parbhu Makan, Kate Newby, Henrik Olesen, Michael Lett, Auckland, New Zealand
Further Thoughts on Earthy Materials, curated by Janneke de Vries and Katja Schroeder, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Still Life, co-curated with Candice Madey, SEPTEMBER, Hudson, USA
It was literally the wreck of jewels and the crash of gems…, Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York, USA
Dwelling Poetically: Mexico City, a case study, curated by Chris Sharp,
Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia
Superposition: Equilibrium & Engagement, 21st Biennale of Sydney, curated by Artistic Director Mami Kataoka, Cockatoo Island and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Belonging to a Place, An exhibition by Fogo Island Arts Embassy of Canada, Washington DC, USA
Ritual, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, USA
2017
Belonging to a Place: An Exhibition by Fogo Island Arts, Scrap Metal Gallery, Toronto, Canada
The Promise, curated by Axel Wieder, Index, Stockholm, Sweden
Of everything that disappears there remain traces, curated by Lauren Ravi, The Honeymoon Suite, Melbourne, Australia
Three-person exhibition, with Mark Hilton and Tove Storch, Raising Cattle, Montreal, Canada
In Practice: Material Deviance, Sculpture Center, Long Island City, USA
JADE BI, Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon, Portugal
2016
31 Women, Philipp Pflug Contemporary, Frankfurt, Germany
A plot of land, Dutton, New York, USA
The January February March, with Jennifer Kabat, curated by Brad Killman and Michelle Grabner, The Poor Farm, Manawa, USA
Every day I make my way, Minerva, Sydney, Australia
Light switch and conduit: the Jim Barr and Mary Barr collection, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
White Columns Benefit Exhibition, White Columns, New York, USA
2015
Natural Flavor, curated by Vivien Trommer, Ludlow 38, New York, USA
Thought Cupboard, The Dowse, Wellington, New Zealand
Paris Internationale, Laurel Gitlen, Paris, France
The Secret and Abiding Politics of Stones, curated by Chris Sharp, Casa del Lago, Mexico City, Mexico
Homeful of Hands, Josh Lilley, London, UK
Lunch Poems, Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland, New Zealand
Ordering Nature, Marianne Boesky, New York, USA
5×5, curated by John Parker, Hastings City Art Gallery, Hastings, New Zealand
Inside Outside Upside Down, curated by Natasha Conland, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand
Parallel Oaxaca at Supplement London, Supplement, London, UK
Sculpture Centre Lucky Draw, Sculpture Centre, New York, USA
There Is Only One Catch And That Is Catch-22, curated by Blanca de la
Torre, Y Gallery, New York, USA
NEW 15, curated by Matt Hinkley, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia
An Imprecise Science, Artspace Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Inside the City, curated by Janneke de Vries, GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst, Bremen, Germany
Eraser, Laurel Gitlen, New York, USA
2014
The Promise, curated by Axel Wieder, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Fin, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, Australia
Spaces, Dowse Museum, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Portmanteaux, Hopkinson Mossman, Auckland, New Zealand
Thin Air, Slopes, Melbourne, Australia
Slip Cast, Dowse Museum, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Lovers, curated by Martin Basher, Starkwhite, Auckland, New Zealand
Mud and Water, Rokeby, London, UK
2013
because the world is round it turns me on, curated by Clara Meister, Arratia Beer, Berlin, Germany
The things we know, curated by Tim Saltarelli, Henningsen Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Third/Fourth Artist Facilitated Biennial, Margaret Lawrence Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Between being and doing, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne, Australia
2012
Everyone knows this is nowhere, castillo/corrales, Paris, France
Running on Pebbles: through lines with incidents and increments, curated by Allan Smith, Snakepit, Auckland, New Zealand
2011
Prospect: New Zealand Art Now, curated by Kate Montgomery, Wellington City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Melanchotopia, curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen and Anne-Claire Schmitz, Witte de With, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Out of a stone, curated by Daniel Munn, Banner Repeater, London, UK
Bas Jan Ader: Suspended between Laughter and Tears, curated by Pilar Tompkins Rivas, Museo de Arte Zapopan (MAZ), Guadalajara, Mexico
2010
Black Door Files, Black Door, Istanbul, Turkey
Bas Jan Ader: Suspended between Laughter and Tears, curated by Pilar Tompkins Rivas, Pitzer Art Galleries and Claremont Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
post-Office, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand
Texticles, curated by Ron McHaffie and Lisa Radford, TCB at the Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne, Austalia
The sky, a window and a tree, in collaboration with Fiona Connor, CalArts, Los Angeles, USA
2009
Cross Coloring, Hell Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
IN CASE IT RAINS, IT MIGHT INVOLVE WATER, curated by Marijke Appleman for ADSF, Rotterdam, Netherlands
The Future is Unwritten, The Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Today is OK, Gallery Manuela Klerkx, Milan, Italy
2008
Brussels Biennial 1, curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen and Florian Waldvogel, Brussels, Belgium
Break: Towards a Public Realm, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Give us a sign, Courtney Place Light Boxes, in association with City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Run!, Window, Auckland, New Zealand
Let it be now, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
4th Y2K Melbourne biennale of art and design, TCB, Melbourne, Australia
Hold Still (with Nick Austin), curated by Claire Doherty, One Day Sculpture, Auckland, New Zealand
The World (will soon turn our way) (with Fiona Connor and Marnie Slater), site-specific project, Mt. Eden, Auckland, New Zealand
Academy (with Ryan Moore), TCB, Melbourne, Australia
Many directions, as much as possible, all over the country, 1301PE, Los Angeles, USA
2007
Working on Talking (with Frances Stark and Ruth Buchanan), Gambia Castle, Auckland, New Zealand
Giant Monuments (with Sanne Mestrom), Münster, Germany
Moment Making: After the Situation, ARTSPACE, Auckland, New Zealand
How W.H. Auden spends the night in a friend’s house, Gambia Castle, Auckland, New Zealand
Omnipresents, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, Australia
Twone (with Sriwhana Spong), Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand
I Dig Your Voodoo, Joint Hassles, Melbourne, Australia
2006
The Silver Clouds, curated by Cuckoo, Order and Progress/Next Wave Festival, Melbourne, Australia
Don’t Rain on my Parade, Special, Auckland, New Zealand
Inner City Real Estate, Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2004
Remember New Zealand, curated by Tobias Berger, 26th São Paulo Biennale, São Paulo, Brazil
Cuckoobough, Westspace, Melbourne, Australia
2003
Money for Nothing, curated by Tobias Berger, Artspace, Auckland; City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
Vs, Michael Lett Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
2002
Honestly, New Artists Show, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand
Fertilizer, High Street Project, Christchurch, New Zealand
Residencies and Awards
2020 Zabludowicz Collection, Sarvisalo, Finland (Forthcoming)
2019 Painters & Sculptors Grant, The Joan Mitchell Foundation
2017 The Chinati Foundation Artist in Residence, Marfa, USA
Spring 2017 International Artist-In-Residence, Artpace, San Antonio, USA
2015 Gertrude Contemporary Residency, Melbourne, Australia
2013 Fogo Island Arts Residency, Newfoundland, Canada
2012 International Studio and Curatorial Program ISCP, New York, USA
The Walters Prize, Auckland, New Zealand
2010 Theatre of Erosion or I Hate Work This is not a Play (with Geoffrey Farmer), Banff Centre, Banff, Canada
Künstlerhäuser, Worpswede, Germany
SOMA, Mexico City, Mexico
Art Fairs
2020 Frieze London, with Tyra Tingleff, the Sunday Painter, London, UK (Forthcoming)
2019 The Independent, Cooper Cole, New York, USA
2017 Frieze Art Fair, Cooper Cole, London, United Kingdom
2015 Art Basel Miami Beach, Laurel Gitlen, Miami, USA
Material Art Fair, Lulu, Mexico City, Mexico
Residencies and Awards
2020 Zabludowicz Collection, Sarvisalo, Finland (Forthcoming)
2019 Painters & Sculptors Grant, The Joan Mitchell Foundation
2017 The Chinati Foundation Artist in Residence, Marfa, USA
Spring 2017 International Artist-In-Residence, Artpace, San Antonio, USA
2015 Gertrude Contemporary Residency, Melbourne, Australia
2013 Fogo Island Arts Residency, Newfoundland, Canada
2012 International Studio and Curatorial Program ISCP, New York, USA
The Walters Prize, Auckland, New Zealand
2010 Theatre of Erosion or I Hate Work This is not a Play (with Geoffrey Farmer), Banff Centre, Banff, Canada
Künstlerhäuser, Worpswede, Germany
SOMA, Mexico City, Mexico
Publications
2019 Kate Newby “Pocket Works” published by the lumber room
I can’t nail the days down, edited by Kunsthalle Wien and published by Sternberg press, Berlin
2017 Belonging to a Place, An exhibition by Fogo Island Arts, Scrap Metal,
Toronto
2016 Light switch and conduit: the Jim Barr and Mary Barr collection, Dunedin
Public Art Gallery, Dunedin
2015 Laura, Lucy, Mark and Felix, MODELAB, Wellington
Our first-second-third-fourth selves write our messages, ACCA, Melbourne
Casa del Lago, Unam, Mexico City
In Practice: Material Deviance, published by SculptureCenter, New York
2013 Incredible feeling, Clouds Publishing, Auckland
Let the other thing in, Fogo Island Arts and Sternberg Press, Berlin
2012 I’m just like a pile of leaves, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Auckland
2011 Bas Jan Ader: Suspended Between Laughter and Tears, Claremont
Museum of Art, Los Angeles
Artist Books
2018 Nothing that’s over so soon should give you that much strength,
Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway
2017 Swift little verbs pushing the big nouns around, Marfa
Let me be the wind that pulls your hair, (edition of 150), San Antonio
2012 I went from a 5 to a 7, (with Fiona Connor), self-published artist, Los Angeles, Banff, Auckland
2011 The sky, the wall and a tree, self-published with Fiona Connor and Gambia Castle Press, Los Angeles
2009 Discreet and Popular, a monthly reader, Gambia Castle Press, Auckland
2008 Holding onto it only makes you sick, Gambia Castle Press, Auckland2007 My Poetry, for example, self-published, Auckland
Architecture for Specific People, Gambia Castle Press, Auckland
2004 A Creative and Artist Masterpiece, self-published, Aigle
2003 Money for Nothing, Artspace, Auckland
2001 My Blues Song, Starkwhite, Auckland
Selected Press
2020 Neha Kale, ‘“Kate Newby: Small Gestures,” Vault, February, Issue 29
p 52-57.
Anna Gaissert, “Kate Newby at Feuilleton,” Artillery Magazine, July 16.
Rosanna Albertini, “Kate Newby: As far as you can,” The Kite, July
2019 Claudia Arozqueta, “Kate Newby’s “Bring Everyone,”” Art-Agenda,
December
Jon Raymond, “Kate Newby; lumber room” Artforum, May
Chris Kraus, “Chris Kraus on learning to cope after the Brett Kavanaugh debacle”, Sleek Magazine, Berlin, March 20
Ross Simonini, “Kate Newby”, Art Review
2018 Chris Kraus, “Kate Newby’s Bone”, Social Practices, Semiotext(e)
Sam Korman, “How to distribute your bricks and virtue,” published on the occasion of All the stuff you already know, The Sunday Painter, London
Chloe Geoghegan, “Kate Newby: I can’t nail the days down”, Contemporary Hum
Chris Sharp, “Following Kate Newby down the road”, Mousse
Figgy Guyver, “Critic’s Guide to London: The Best Shows in Town”, Frieze
Vivien Trommer, “Highlight 5/12 – Kunsthalle Wien,” Cuba Paris
Alexandra-Maria Toth, “Kate Newby: I Can’t Nail The Days Down”, PW-Magazine
Sue Gardiner, “The meaning of molecules,” Art News New Zealand, vol.38, no.2, Winter, p.92–94
Jon Bywater, “Evangelism & clay : The 21st Biennale of Sydney,” Art New Zealand, no.166, Winter 2018, p.72–75
John Hurrell, “Newby at Marfa at Lett”, Eye Contact
Eloise Callister-Baker, “The Unmissables: Four Exhibitions to see in March”, Pantograph Punch
2017 Chris Kraus, “Splodges of Color”, Swift little verbs pushing the big nouns around (artist book)
Neil Fauerso, “Artpace Spring Artist-in-Residence Exhibition”, Glasstire
Linnea West, “Phone tag: Interview with Kate Newby”, Phone Tag
2016 Anthony Byrt, “Quiet wanderer: Kiwi sculptor Kate Newby”, Paperboy
Kate Sutton, “Kate Newby; Laurel Doody”, Artforum
Jennifer Kabat, “To Write About A Hole”, VQR
Rosanna Albertini, “Kate Newby: don’t be all scared like before”, The Kite
2015 Roberta Smith, “Kate Newby and Helen Johnson” (review), The New York Times, 16 July.
2014 Francisco Goldman, “Mexico City Mix,” National Geographic Traveller, December.
Hamish Coney, “Breakfast in America,” Content Magazine, November.
Jennifer Kabat, “In Focus: Kate Newby,” Frieze, March.
Leslie Moody Castro, “Kate Newby, Lulu, Mexico City” (review), Artforum.com Critic’s Picks.
Jennifer Kabat, “The Small Often Vague Things—Kate Newby’s Radically Slight Art,” The Weeklings, June.
2013 Miami Kataoka, “I like works when their condition as art is unclear” in Kate Newby: Let the other thing in, Sternberg Press, 2013 (essay)
Kay Burns, Kate Newby: Let the Other Thing in, C Magazine, Issue 120, 2013 (review)
Sarah Hopkinson, Kate Newby’s Outside, in Kate Newby: Incredible Feeling, Clouds Publishing, 2013 (essay)
Jennifer Kabat, It’s The Small Often Vague Things, in Kate Newby: Let the other thing in, Sternberg Press, 2013 (catalogue essay)
Chris Kraus, Kate Newby’s Bones, in Kate Newby: Incredible Feeling, Clouds Publishing, 2013 (essay)
2012 Julia Waite, If not concrete then what? Kate Newby’s I’m just like a pile of leaves Archive, Reading Room 5, 2012
2011 Sam Eichblatt, “Kate Newby: Occupying Brooklyn,” Metro Magazine n. 363, May.
Sue Gardiner, “Aspiring to the condition of architecture,” Artnews, Spring.
2010 Jon Bywater, Discreet Poetry: Kate Newby’s ‘Get off my garden’, 2010 (exhibition essay)
Allan Smith, Know how can do: E, F, G, K – busy with the elephant; or, Calculate, evaluate, improvise: Eve Armstrong; Fiona Connor; Gaelen MacDonald; Kate Newby, in Natural Selection, Issue 7, Winter 2010
2009 Sue Gardiner, You really had to be there!, Artnews, Autumn 2009
2008 Louise Menzies, Kate Newby & Nick Austin, Frieze online, 2008 (review)
Ruth Buchanan, Poems about nature documentaries, in Kate Newby: Holding onto it only makes you sick, Gambia Castle Press, Auckland, 2008