Press Release

Mrs. is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new work by Kate Barbee in our satellite space, marking the artist’s first presentation with the gallery.

This body of work deepens Barbee’s engagement with surface, texture, and time. Developed through cycles of painting, cutting, sewing, and reconstruction, the works carry visible histories; earlier compositions buried, disrupted, and reassembled. Canvas is pierced and stitched, fragments of fabric emerge and recede, and layers of paint are applied, removed, and reworked. The resulting surfaces verge on the sculptural, emphasizing process as both accumulation and revision.

At once deeply personal and broadly resonant, the paintings function as relational portraits that privilege sensation over precision. Mood, vulnerability, desire, and tension unfold through an open-ended, responsive approach that draws on expressionist traditions while remaining distinctly contemporary in form and material.

Barbee’s compositions reflect a range of influences, from early modernist ornamentation to symbolic abstraction and textile-based practices. Through stitched motifs, fragmented scenes, and shifting perspectives, the works assemble moments into visual “time stamps,” mapping emotional and spatial experience across layered surfaces. A sustained emphasis on texture unifies otherwise varied palettes and compositions, marking a shift from her earlier, more atmospheric paint handling.

Her paintings reward sustained looking; forms emerge gradually through dense accumulations of mark and material, inviting a process of discovery. Figures remain fluid and ambiguous, at times suggestive of self-portraiture or personal relationships, yet ultimately functioning as mirrors for the viewer.

Underlying this work is an engagement with cycles of grief, resilience, and transformation. The act of making becomes a means of processing, holding together brightness and fragmentation, intimacy and distance. Surfaces are scratched, built up, and worn, evoking a sense of age and memory while remaining insistently present. Each work bears the traces of its own beginnings.

Kate Barbee (b. 1994, Dallas, TX) received her BFA in Studio Art from the University of Texas in 2017. She has exhibited at Albertz Benda and Sargent’s Daughters, New York, NY; Kohn Gallery and James Wright Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, San Luis Obispo, CA;, UQBAR Gallery, Berlin, Germany; Saatchi Gallery, London, U.K.; Royal Co-op, Visual Arts Center, Co-Lab Gallery, and Activation Gallery, Austin, TX; and Dollhouse Space, Chicago, IL. Barbee was an Artist-in-Residence at the Macedonia Institute (Hudson, NY) in 2025, Soaring Gardens residency - led by the Ora Lerman Trust (Lacyville, PA) and  Bed Stuy Art (Brooklyn, NY) in 2021. Her work is in the permanent collection at the Hill Art Foundation (New York, NY), Andrew Xue Collection (Singapore), Green Family Foundation (Dallas, TX), SoHo House (New York, NY) and Danjuma Collection (London, UK). Her work has been reviewed in Arte Fuse, Mercer Contemporary, ODDA Magazine, Whitehot Magazine, Artnet, KCRW, Flaunt, Metal Magazine, Art and Cake, Art of Choice, L’Officiel Art, Harper’s Bazaar, VoyageLA, amongst others. She lives in Brooklyn and works in Queens, NY. 

Kate Barbee’s Good Grief will be on view May 9 through June 27, 2026, at 60-19 56th Road, Maspeth, Queens. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, May 9, from 4–7pm.

For press inquiries or more information, please contact hello@mrsgallery.com.