Since 2017 I have been developing two strands of oil paintings that are inspired stylistically by my interest in the work of Italian Renaissance artist Cosmé Tura. Both my Antecedents and Great Outdoors strands offer a wry commentary on the enduring issues and obstacles encountered within contemporary romantic or intimate settings, with titles based on pop song lyrics that were initially a response to my compositions, but more frequently now actually inspire them.
'My process of image-making and meaning production incorporates random figures, forced interactions, chance, manipulation and play during the early collage-design stage.'
This can create lots of challenges when I'm painting, to achieve the Renaissance-inspired aesthetic I’m after, with contrasting or complementary elements of naturalism and abstraction.
My nudes are sourced and/or reconfigured from a range of artistic and art-historical images, and although I sometimes refashion or modify them, my close and prolonged visual examinations of these original artworks locates my practice in an ongoing dialogue with the artists and image-makers who produced them. I am looking for insights into compositional, thematic, and aesthetic motivations and decision-making processes, and an understanding of their technical and painterly practices and methods. What started as homage-driven curiosity has become a long-term and a transformative journey. An unexpected bonus of my pivot to painting has been a hugely enhanced appreciation of natural landscapes and landscape painting through the ages.
Exhibitions
2024 Royal Cambrian Academy Open Exhibition, Conwy 2023 The Reading Group, Oriel Canfas, Cardiff Turner House Open Exhibition, Penarth Without Borders, Oriel CARN, Caernarfon 2022 Salon des Refusés, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth 2022 Without Borders, AMC, Nagoya, Japan and Meta Forte, Venice, Italy COA, Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan Royal Cambrian Academy Open Exhibition, Conwy 2021 Without Borders, Art Spot Korean, Kyoto, Japan and Elysium, Swansea ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London Turner House Open Exhibition, Penarth Royal Cambrian Academy Open Exhibition, Conwy 2020 International Women's Day Exhibition, Art Central, Barry 2019 We Make Art Too: CASW, Art Central, Barry RWA Open, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol 2018 vis-à-vis, Oriel y Bont, University of South Wales 2017 More Front Than a Cow's Got...Kunst!!, MADE, Cardiff Derive, Galleria 4-kuus, Helsinki, Finland We Draw and More, Barnabas Arts House, Newport 2016 Garden of Earthly Delights, Former Customs & Immigration Building, Cardiff 2015 tactileBOSCH Berlin, rosalux, Berlin, Germany 2014 Paradise Lost, Former Customs & Immigration Building, Cardiff Futures in Question, Goldsmiths, University of London 2013 Drawing In Between: Interdisciplinary Learning through Drawing, Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff Old Victoria Buildings Revival, Fringe Arts, Bath WE DRAW, Butetown History and Art Centre, Cardiff 2012 WIRAD GRADE, Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff With Reference To…, Art Central, Barry 36 Women Artists, Butetown History and Art Centre, Cardiff Blowback, tactileBOSCH, Cardiff Re:Union Salon, Urban Gallery, Cardiff 2011 In Haus, Printhaus, Cardiff Tradition, Traveller’s Café, Barry 2010 Tradition, Llanover Hall, Cardiff Tenure, Cardiff Millennium Centre 2009 SHOP, Queen’s Arcade, Cardiff 2008 Searching Beyond…, Howard Gardens Gallery, Cardiff Body Echoes, Oriel Canfas, Cardiff Come to the Edge, Ivy Brown Gallery, New York 2007 Addiction: Dark Victory, tactileBOSCH, Cardiff Stick ‘Em Up, Old Nat West Bank, Cardiff Bay Addiction: Walking the Line, tactileBOSCH, Cardiff The Apotropaic Eye, tactileBOSCH, Cardiff 2006 Essays on Synaesthesia, Oriel y Bont, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd From Me to You, Norwegian Church, Cardiff Bay Gene Culture, Liverpool Biennial Independents, Slaughterhouse 73 Gallery, Liverpool Paradise, tactileBOSCH and SHOP, Cardiff Future Matters, Department of Social Sciences, Cardiff University Bosch in the Bush, Coed Hills Rural Artspace, Vale of Glamorgan Strange Relations, Muni Arts Centre, Pontypridd Gene Culture, Egg Space Gallery, Liverpool Between the Sheets, Proud Gallery, Camden, London Lab, Smock and Two Smoking Piles, Paintworks, Bristol 2005 Nest, Shelter, Column, lac Labarthe, Caylus, France Ment-al, House, Cardiff KISSS, Conical Gallery, Melbourne, Australia Coagulation, tactileBOSCH, Cardiff European Heritage Weekend, Duffryn Gardens, Vale of Glamorgan fourchette@Canfas, Oriel Canfas, Cardiff Creature, Elastic Residence, Whitechapel, London fourchette 4, Centrespace, Bristol Kissing The Pink, The Art Academy, Southwark, London
Qualifications
2013 Doctor of Philosophy, Cardiff School of Art & Design, Cardiff Metropolitan University
2008 Certificate in Research Methods, UWIC
2003 Master of Arts: Fine Art with Distinction, UWIC
1995 Foundation Diploma, Art and Design, UWIC
1992 Bachelor of Arts, The Open University
1981 Bachelor of Science (with Honours): Zoology, University College Cardiff