Cat Tesla

Cat Tesla is a contemporary abstract painter based in North Port, Florida. She's known for luminous, layered canvases in oil and acrylic that read as bold graphic statements from across a room and show rich organic detail up close. Before painting full-time in 2006, she spent nearly two decades as a genetic counselor on the faculty of Emory University's Department of Human Genetics. She holds degrees in biology, human genetics and graphic design, and that mix of scientist and designer shapes everything she paints. Her work is in more than 300 corporate collections and nearly 1,000 hospitals and medical centers, including paintings commissioned for Emory's Winship Cancer Institute in Atlanta.

Tesla builds every painting through automatism. She starts with an unplanned drawing in graphite and wax crayon, adds translucent layers of oil and acrylic, scrapes back to reveal what's underneath, and finishes with poured glossy glazes for depth and light. Her series include the nature-based Exhale Series and the non-objective Feeling Good Series. Studio E Gallery in Palm Beach Gardens represents Cat Tesla in South Florida, with original paintings for private collectors and for healthcare, hospitality and corporate spaces.