Kate Groobey

Unlock yourself, 2023, 1:00mins, UHD video

Kate Groobey: Always Love Sean Horton: Untitled Art: Miami Beach Kate Groobey & Kirk Hayes December 5 – 10, 2023 Establishing a sort of self-empowered woman vs. self-defeating man dichotomy, Kate Groobey portrays her personal experiences and explores the androcentric cannon of painting from a feminist, queer perspective using the tactics of British humour while Kirk Hayes' semi-self-portraits attempt to soften the ever-present American notions of aging, depression, failure, and mortality through playfulness and dark humor. Groobey's work reflects on what it means to be a strong, queer, woman in the world today against a backdrop of rising homophobia, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the Woman-Life-Freedom movement. Driven by the ideals of equality and solidarity, Groobey is building a lexicon of motifs that envelop, strengthen, and empower her two protagonists, Jina Khayyer, her writer wife, and the Female Stallion, Groobey's own equine avatar, who are poured, spooned, and dripped onto canvases to create visceral, sculptural impasto surfaces. Articulating a queer, female gaze, Groobey's painted heroines don't sit quietly on walls. They jump out of the frame, they speak, and they move in video-works wherein Groobey becomes her own characters, bringing them to life with painted costume, dance, digital editing tricks like Boomerang, taken from social media, and a soundtrack in which Groobey and Khayyer's intimate daily conversations become mantras of strength and empowerment: their desires, philosophy, poetry and directives fill your mind as you look.

Unlock yourself, kate groobey, painting, oil painting, Sean Horton gallery, untitled art fairs, miami beach art fair

Unlock Yourself, 2023, Oil on canvas, (16 x 12 in) 40.5 x 30.5 cm

"UNLOCK YOURSELF is based on a lesson taught by my wife’s literary agent when she told her to unlock herself, that it is the artists master practice to tap into the deepest part within and to unlock barriers. UNLOCK YOURSELF reminds us that when we are unlocked, we can remain open to others. "

kate groobey, painting, oil painting, artist, sean horton gallery, untitled art fairs, miami beach art fairs

Hold onto my heart, 2023, Oil on canvas, (11 x 8 1/8 in) 28 x 20.5 cm

“Hold onto my heart, is a title borrowed from one of my wife Jina Khayyer’s poems, from her 'Tear Catcher' collection. Hold onto my heart is an offering of support and solidarity, where I propose the answer cannot be to shut down, it has to be the open hand, the open heart. The inflated heart and hand act like life-rafts and my protagonist, Khayyer, holds on, not just with her hands but with her entire body, and repeats, with urgency, ‘I'm holding you, you're holding me.”

I heart, again, 2023, Oil on canvas, (11 x 8 1/8 in) 28 x 20.5 cm

“I HEART, AGAIN is a reference to my wife’s love of Albert Camus’ 1942 essay, The Myth of Sisyphus. Based on the Greek legend of Sisyphus, who was condemned to roll a rock up a hill repeatedly, only to have it roll back down again once he got it to the top, Camus used the myth to embrace meaninglessness and absurdity and conclude that Sisyphus must be happy in his repetitive struggle. This idea is the bedrock of my own, and my wife’s, philosophical approach. In I HEART, AGAIN Sisyphus’s rock becomes a heart in my wife's hands, symbolising art and love, both of which must be endlessly practiced.”

Grow, 2023, Oil on canvas, (12 1/8 x 10 in) 30.7 x 25.5 cm

“Roses have a special place in my practice because my father loved to grow roses, and they connect the origins of myself and my wife because the rose has an equally important role in English (especially Yorkshire) and Iranian identity. The idea of growth has become more present in my life since I moved to the countryside where I grow roses, I grow tomatoes, I grow strawberries, I see farmers growing grapes, sunflowers, pumpkins, olives, all year long. The roses in Grow represent my approach to life, a lesson learnt from my wife: always put 100 percent love into everything you do.”

kate groobey, painting, oil painting, sean horton, untitled art fairs, miami beach art fairs

Flowers for you, 2023, Oil on canvas, (12 1/8 x 10 in) 30.7 x 25.5 cm

"In Flowers for you my heroines hold a flower in their mouths. The image is emblematic of the greatest offering one can give, love. It remains open as to who is offering the flower to whom. Are they offering the flowers to themselves? Self love, after all, is the foundation of all love. Or are they giving them to, or receiving them from, someone else? Flowers for you expresses the importance of giving love, to yourself and to others."

I heart you, 2022, Oil on canvas, (12 x 16 in 30.5 x 40.5 cm)

“I HEART YOU is about the importance of the basic need of people to feel supported and safe in their environments, domestic and societal. In I HEART YOU the giant hands are a symbol of protection and safety. In my performance of i HEART YOU my wife Jina Khayyer talks about our own relationship and how unfailing mutual support enables us to continue to make work even when things aren’t going our way. The two giant hands are the symbolic pick-me-up we sometimes need at home, at work, from wider society, our institutions and state apparatus, and from beyond our national borders.”