Katie Cox: The Designed Environment and The Art of Looking

About

The Designed Environment and The Art of Looking presents a collection of experimental acrylic paintings by artist Katie Cox, exploring the overlooked beauty embedded within the spaces we encounter every day. Developed during her BA (Hons) Fine Art degree, this body of work reflects an evolving practice centred on observation, experimentation and abstraction.

Inspired by photographs taken during daily life and travel, Katie draws from architectural details, decorative patterns, and overlooked surfaces. Wallpaper, tiled interiors, brickwork, ornamental gates, windows, and structural forms become the starting point for a process of transformation, encouraging viewers to see familiar surroundings in unexpected ways.

Experimentation is central to Katie's practice. Working with layers of acrylic paint, she builds compositions through the repetition, distortion, and reconstruction of patterns and architectural fragments. Rather than depicting specific places, the works transform familiar visual elements into bold abstract compositions that invite multiple interpretations.

Originally created for Katie's degree show, the exhibition brings together a body of work that reflects both technical exploration and the development of a distinctive visual language. Fragments of architecture and decorative motifs emerge and dissolve across the surface, encouraging viewers to pause, look more closely, and discover beauty within the ordinary.

Having recently graduated with a First Class BA (Hons) Fine Art degree, this exhibition marks an important milestone in Katie Cox's developing artistic practice as she continues to explore how colour, pattern, and abstraction can reshape our perception of the built environment.