Size: 50 x 40cm

Medium: Oil on Panel

Tomlinson’s paintings overtly reference moments throughout the canon of Western, patriarchal art history. She reconsiders, reconfigures, and reclaims specific moments from painting's problematic past, using this as a tool to enhance and reinforce her works’ contemporary social themes within a post-MeToo era. Her works presented in ‘Finger!’ (Paradise Works) at the Manchester Contemporary specifically consider historical depictions of nymphs and reclining nudes, influenced by Sonia Boyce’s effective removal of ‘Hylas and the Nymphs’ from Manchester Art Gallery. The figure in ‘Corpse’ appropriates a characater from ‘Reclining Venus’ by Titian, which is featured in the Manchester Art Gallery collection. 

Using her fingerprints and footprints to paint, along with the incorporation of dyed sunflower seeds to build texture and communicate concepts, ‘Corpse’ explores the sexualisation, commodification, consumption, and objectification of bodies. This work also questions the asymmetry and reciprocity of the gaze, as well as the duality between ethics and exploitation in relation to the artist and their subjects. By repeatedly touching her painting, Tomlinson fills it with fingerprints, creating a narrative that focuses on consent and ownership concerning the body and exploitative depictions throughout art history.

Biography 

Katie Tomlinson (b. 1996, Teesside) lives and works in Manchester. She holds a BA in Fine Art from Manchester School of Art and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London, and was the recipient of the Basil H. Alkazzi Scholarship Award.

Tomlinson’s work has been featured in numerous international exhibitions. Most recently, she presented the solo exhibitions ‘Fantasy Girls’ at Liminal Gallery, Margate (2024); ‘They Only Want You When You’re Seventeen’ in Seoul (2024); ‘At Least Buy Me Dinner First’ at Brooke Benington, London (2022); and ‘Fight the Moon’ at Paradise Works, Manchester (2022). Among the group exhibitions she has participated in are ‘40 Years of the Future: Painting’ at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester (2024); ‘Viewing Room’ at Galerie Supermarkt, Tokyo (2024); ‘A Mirror to Vanity’ at Brooke Benington, London (2024); and ‘LET THE ABSENCE SPEAK’, curated by Mattia Pizzani and Marta Orsola Sironi, Milan, Italy (2023), as well as ‘Buried in Affection’ at Galerie Supermarkt, Tokyo (2022); ‘Stories’ at Bankley Gallery, Manchester (2022); ‘Fayre Share Fayre’ at The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (2022); ‘A Star is Just a Memory of a Star’ at Brooke Benington, London (online, 2022); ‘RAW’ at Soho Revue, London (2022); and ‘Obstructions’ at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester (2021).