Gottgens graduated from the Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town, in 1987, and presented her first solo exhibition in 1993 entitled Modern Wonders. Subsequent solo shows include: most recently – Tired from Smiling at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town in 2017; Famine at SMAC Gallery in Johannesburg; Merry Hell and the Dreambody in 2010; Asleep Inside You in 2009; and Little Deaths in 2007. In 2013, SMAC Gallery presented MALICE Aforethought, in Cape Town. This was followed by her international debut, Savage Nature at Espacio Liquido in Gijon, Spain in 2015. Gottgens has exhibited in numerous group shows locally and abroad since 1988, most notably; the 8th New Delhi Triennale in 1994 and Scurvy at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town in 1995. SMAC Gallery presented Gottgens at MiArt in Milan, Italy in 2014, selected additional international fairs include SCOPE FAIR in Miami Beach, USA in 2014.

Following Gottgens’ inclusion as the only South African selected for Thames and Hudson’s publication, 100 Painters of Tomorrow in 2014, her work was exhibited at One Art Space in New York City, USA as part of the exhibition to launch the publication. In 2015, SMAC Gallery published Kate Gottgens // Paintings 2007 – 2015 to coincide with her review exhibition Infinite Loop in Stellenbosch. That same year, she also presented a solo show, The Rising Sea at NUNC Contemporary-Antwerp in Antwerp, Belgium. Kate Gottgens’ work is currently on show in The Vault of the Silo Hotel at the V&A Waterfront, Silo District in Cape Town, South Africa. She is the first artist to exhibit in this space.

In 2018, Gottgens was included in SMAC Gallery’s presentation at artmonte-carlo in Monte Carlo Monaco, as well as Bathing, a group exhibition curated by Brian Shure at Planthouse Gallery in New York City, USA. She was selected by curator and academic, Marilyn Martin, as the featured artist for the Fynarts Festival in Hermanus, South Africa. Gottgens also exhibited a solo presentation with SMAC Gallery at the Sydney Contemporary in Sydney, Australia.