Layering thin veils of acrylic on canvas, Kate Serebrianskaia creates dynamic fields of colour that shift in form, tone and hue. The distinct palettes of individual compositions inform each painting’s mood and energy. Yet Serebrianskaia’s command of materials and her meditative, organic imagery consistently yield paintings that evoke elusive atmospheric effects: warm breath in cold air, sunlight glare or twilight afterglow.
Originally from Siberia, it was following her move to Aotearoa New Zealand that Serebrianskaia departed from figurative painting and developed her distinct abstract style. Her experimentation with diverse media was crucial to this abstract turn, revealing new visual possibilities. Her current body of work relies upon the materiality and fluidity of diluted acrylic inks and fluids, and the effect of combining them with raw, unprimed canvas. Thin layers of paint seep into the canvas. Colours and tones change, soften and fade as the paint is absorbed; as veils of paint are layered one after the other. The result is an immersive sense of depth in the two-dimensional canvas, and the impression of colour moving – drifting, sinking, pulsing – beneath the painting’s surface. Gently unfolding before the eye, the movement within Serebrianskaia’s paintings encourages the viewer to linger, and rewards slow looking with new depths.
In her working process, Serebrianskaia delicately balances control and flow. She occupies the liminal space between actively commanding the paint across the canvas and embracing the materials’ natural instincts. Relying on her intuition, some works take much time to complete, constituting dozens of layers of thin paint. Others reveal themselves more quickly.
Text by Victoria Munn
Achievements
2025 Tasman National Art Awards, Finalist
2025 The Emerging Artist Awards, Upstairs Gallery, 1st Place Winner
2025 Craig Aspiring Art Prize, Finalist
2024 Kumeu Arts Awards, Finalist
2024 Gaining Unitec Masters Scholarship
2015 Summer School at St.Petersburg Repin Academy of Fine Arts
Exhibitions
2025 Tasman National Art Awards Exhibition, Nelson (21 September - 4 October)
2025 The Emerging Artist Awards Exhibition, The Upstairs Gallery, Auckland (30 August - 21 September)
2025 Aotearoa Art Fair, Exhibiting with Artor Contemporary, Auckland (1-4 May)
2025 Beyond the Surface (Solo Show), Depot Artspace, Auckland (1 February - 15 March)
2025 Craig Aspiring Art Prize Exhibition, Wanaka (11-13 January)
2024 The Daylight Show / 13 Emerging Artists - An Ode to Peggy Guggenheim, Föenander Galleries, Auckland (6-24 December)
2024 Kumeu Arts Awards Exhibition, Auckland (5-23 November)
2024 The Quiet of Becoming, Kate Silver and Ryan Sun, Artor Contemporary, Auckland (4-31 October)
2024 Finished works and works in process, Toi o Wairaka Gallery, Auckland (15-22 August)
2024 Translating unseen truths through painting (Solo Show), Toi o Wairaka Gallery, Auckland (4-12 July)
Education
Master of Creative Practice (First Class Honours), Contemporary Art
Unitec Institute of Technology, New Zealand (February 2023 - July 2024)