Louise Balaam

"My work is concerned with an emotional response to the natural world, particularly the relationship between light and dark. I paint semi abstract landscapes which are not intended to represent specific places, but instead suggest an idealised or mythical place onto which the viewer can project their own feelings. My paintings relate to the English landscape tradition - Constable's oil sketches are an important influence - and also to twentieth century artists such as Winifred Nicholson, Mary Potter, Ivon Hitchens, Joan Eardley and Sheila Fell.

I like the sensuality and depth of colour of oil, used in gestural and direct brushstrokes, which assert the materiality of paint and the painted surface. Current work is in oil on panel, which allows me to scratch into the wet paint. At the moment much of my work is on a small scale - I like the sense of intimacy and intensity this gives, and the relationship of size of brushstroke to the size of the painting.

More recent artists such as Richard Cook and Partou Zia have been important to me in terms of the expressive and spiritual qualities of paint. Above all, I am aiming to create images which act as objects in their own right, and which have their own emotional resonance."

Louise has a BA from Kent Institute of Art & Design, Canterbury, and an MA in Fine Art from Christchurch University College, Canterbury.

Solo Exhibitions

2006
A Sense Of Place, Portico Gallery, Sevenoaks

Group Exhibitions

2007
Works On Paper Fair, Royal Academy, London
Abbott & Holder Gallery, London
Battersea Contemporary Art Fair, London
2006
Prelude, Spitalfields, London
Autumn Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
Pump Gallery, Dorking
Affordable Art Fair, Temple Meads, Bristol
BCAF, Battersea Art Centre, London
Views Of A Landscape, Artonomy Gallery, Truro
2005
Hunting Art Prizes, Royal College of Art, London
Alan Kluckow Fine Art, Sunningdale
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Whitespace Contemporary Art, Totnes
The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
New English Art Club, Mall Galleries, London
Chichester Open, Minerva Theatre, Chichester
Open Painting Exhibition, RWA, Bristol
Field, Code Gallery, Bristol