Cat Tams explores the dialogue between light and colour, and the interplay between volume, form and surface. With a rigour of observational drawing at the core of her pictures, she often uses familiar landscapes or handcrafted objects as a vehicle through which she creates pictures. Ultimately, her work is a negotiation with the complex fibres of the visible world. By placing subjects in playful relation to one another, Cat reveals a conversation and an energy in the spaces between them. She is interested in how these relationships can alter perception, and create a sense of lyricism, motion and narrative. The seemingly inanimate subject of still life, brought to life. With a background in geography and teaching, and having lived and travelled in many parts of the world, she considers her work a store of time, place and memory – drawing from her experiences and relationships with place and objects. Often, she returns to the same subject, from multiple viewpoints, before arriving at a painting. The process creates a space for reflection and enquiry, and inevitably, what emerges is always a starting point rather than a conclusion.