Katey Smoker is an artist whose work redefines the possibilities of paint as a material. With a background in metallurgy and material science, she approaches painting as both a physical substance and a structural element. Her works, which exist at the intersection of painting and sculpture, are made entirely of paint — cast, assembled, and arranged into spatial compositions. Through repetition, accumulation, and variation, Smoker challenges traditional ideas of form and process. Her practice emphasises material transformation, exploring how small elements build larger structures, inviting viewers to reconsider the boundaries of painting beyond the surface.

“For me, paint is not just a material, it is a living, shifting thing. It is never still. It flows, cracks, stretches, and settles in ways that are both unpredictable and revealing. In my work I seek this movement, allowing the paint to shape itself as much as I shape it.”

Smoker holds a Bachelor of Contemporary Art and a Bachelor of Metallurgical Engineering from the University of South Australia. Her final year body of work, A Delicate Balance between Intention and Intuition, was selected for Hatched, the 2024 National Graduate Exhibition, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA). She was also a 2024 ACE Studio and a recipient of the Major Exhibition Prize at the 2024 Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition, supported by Linden New Art and IAS Fine Art Logistics. She was a recipient of the UniSA Creative Graduate Exhibition Prize (2023), the John Christie Wright Memorial Prize for Painting (2023), the Friends of the South Australian School of Art Inc Prize (2020) and the Chancellor’s Letters of Commendation (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2025     Linden New Art (upcoming), St Kilda, VIC. Supported by Helpmann Academy, IAS Fine Art Logistics & Linden New Art (12 Jun - 13 July)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     2025     In Essence, Group Exhibition for Adelaide Fringe Festival, Gallery 1855, Tea Tree Gully, SA                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            2024     ACE Studios: 2024, Adelaide Contemporary Experimental, Adelaide, SA                          
2024     Hatched: National Graduate Exhibition, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA), WA                 
2024     Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition, SASA Gallery, Adelaide, SA                                                                                                                                                                                           2024     Short Notice #2, SASA Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2023     Coalesce – UniSA Contemporary Art Graduate Show, University of South Australia, Adelaide
2022     Off The Grid, Adelaide City Libraries, South Australian Living Artists festival (SALA), North Adelaide, SA
2021      May: revisions, interventions, extensions – SASA Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2021      Remade, Gallery 1855, Tea Tree Gully, SA