About

‘As long as I can remember I have fully lived for pure self expression, movement and pure joy.’

Artist Statement

Abstract painter K A Treble creates large‑scale, expressionist artworks that explore the emotional and spiritual power of colour and mark‑making, painting riotus, elemental and textural canvases in a deeply physical process. Working primarily in oil, she builds and erodes layers over time, revealing hidden textures and stories beneath the surface, using the palette knife to carve stories and etchings into the canvas. Her work brims with gestures and textures—tricks cherry-picked from modernist masters. It may feel familiar at first, but it will leave you feeling hit by something urgent and new. Based in the south-east of England in the Surrey Hills, she is inspired deeply by the nature, movement and the energy of the countryside.

Her work sits in conversation with early abstraction — where colour, light and form become vessels for inner worlds rather than depictions of the external ones. Inspired deeply of the spiritual investigations of artists such as innovator Hilma af Klint or the luminous, weather‑charged atmospheres of Turner’s late or unfinished works, to the large colour fields of Rothko. Kati has a bold palette and treats the canvas as a site for channelling forces and energies that are felt before they are seen. Bringing energy, abundance and joy she feels through painting.

Each painting becomes a visual language for experiences and emotions that can’t easily be put into words — a meeting point between the body, memory and something larger than the self.

Practice & Process

Kati’s process is both intuitive and physical. Thick oil paint is applied, scraped back and re‑worked over months or even years. This cyclical construction and deconstruction becomes a metaphor in itself: a way of witnessing time, emotion and transformation on the canvas.

Each mark responds to and reshapes the one before it, creating a delicate rhythm of colour, form and movement. Dynamic colour relationships and energetic application generate a visual pulse that feels at once meditative and charged.

By stripping imagery back to its essential elements, Kati works within pure abstraction to explore: the dialogue between chaos and structure; the tension between the seen and the felt; modern narratives of spirituality, grounding and inner stillness

Her aim is to invite the viewer into an immersive, contemplative encounter — a space where colours resonate on a primal level and something deep in the body recognises itself.

ABSTRACT EXPRESSION .

Origins & Influence

Kati was born in Hong Kong to an English father and Australian mother. Her early childhood in Hong Kong Island’s Deep Water Bay instilled a deep connection to nature, the landscape, and elemental forces, where storms, sunshine and tropical air come and go in day —an influence that continues to shape her artistic vision. Her formative years were spent between the UK and Australia, enriching her cultural perspective mark-making, play and creative voice, dance was very important from an early age, being unable to keep still, it was an early emotional outlay.

She earned her degree from Ravensbourne College of Art and Communication, alongside ballet and contemporary dance, and later pursued further art and design studies at the University of the Arts London (London College of Fashion and Central Saint Martins).

At 19, she moved to New York, where she worked at legendary designer Diane von Furstenberg, known for her heavy use of print and colour. Work at Vivienne Westwood followed and later in her career as Head of Design & Production at South Kensington Atelier and digital artist Maria Grachvogel.

This background in dance, design, textiles and colour continues to inform her approach. Whilst working in fashion design in Hong Kong she starting mark-making with expressionist abstracts, alongside a developing spiritual practice. During these days experimenting from her rooftop in mixed medias and selling these prints to US retailers and design houses.

Painting & Current Practice

Kati later relocated from Hong Kong to Brixton, London, where she showed with artist’s collective ‘Studio 42’ around London. Returning to Surrey and drawn by the natural beauty of the Surrey Hills and the nature and light reflected in her work into a new warmth. She is currently based at Lockwood Arts in Guildford, a centre for neuro-divergent and artists in Surrey.

Abstract painting reflects a return to her roots and the innate expression —a medium through which she channels her passion for colour, vision beyond form, spirituality, breaking down human emotion into mark-making and pure expression. She has worked with private collections, yachts and luxury spas to bring spaces to life and through her own brand, Kati Kaia, which sells worldwide.