KATE GROOBEY

Instagram text by Paul Carey-Kent    

 

I'm a big star (2026)

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Kate Groobey with her wife - which is to say Jina Khayyer as depicted in 'Into the deep end', 2026. Khayyer is the subject across the whole of 'I'm A Big Star' at Sim Smith, albeit more of emotionscapes - to coin a term - than of portraits as such.

 

Groobey has often performed with her paintings, but here the performance is purely in the painting. She starts from a small watercolour plan, then takes a wheelbarrow of paint and brushes, sets up a table outside her studio in the south of France, lies the canvas on the ground, and sets to work with enough bodily involvement that footmarks may appear. Groobey finds both the atmosphere and the light of working en plein air make a big difference to the results, which she generally produces within the day.

 

This diving image is perhaps the most thematically linked to Groobey's athletic background, which has included gymnastics, horse riding and jujitsu. All require a muscle memory comparable to painting - that the movements are internalised sufficiently to carry on in the moment without needing to think about them. As a whole, it's an uplifting show that combines personal love with a love for such day-to-day epiphanies as the moon, stars and cherries.

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