People Painting

Artist Jake Lamerton talks about the depopulation taking place in his work, painting the air between body and object, the value of forgetting in his process, and more. Jake Lamerton (b.1994, Canterbury) lives and works in London. His practice has been an investigation into Kent as a site of political, historical and autobiographical resonance. His recent work pulls away from the specificity of thi...

Artist Eva Dixon talks about the sophistication of not understanding while making, the potency of found imagery, how our culture is shaping the difference between being seen and being looked at, and more. Eva Dixon (b. 2000) is an Australian artist living in London. Dixon’s practice, spanning assemblage, sculpture and painting, explores homo-eroticism in sport and porn, the space race, lesbianism...

Artist Sebastián Espejo talks about observational shifts between scene and surface, how multiple temporalities accumulate in his paintings, receptiveness versus modulation in his process, and more. Sebastián Espejo (b. 1990) is a Chilean artist based in London whose practice centres on painting as a form of attention. His work explores the language of painting through close observation of the natu...

Artist Edith Dormandy talks about specificity, honoring visually led impulses, exploring the shifting relationship between language and experience through painting, and more. Edith is a London-based artist with a classical training. She graduated with an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in 2024 where she was supported by the Vice Chancellor's Achievement Award and where she won the...

Artist Olivia van Kuiken discusses intentional misdirection, how she is thinking about language through painting, engaging with the architectural element of her work, and more. This conversation is concerned primarily with the work in her recent show “Bastard Rhyme” at Matthew Brown Gallery in New York. Olivia van Kuiken (b. 1997 in Chicago, Illinois) is a New York based artist. She received a BFA...

Artist Gavin Gleeson talks about his really good titles, wearing ideas like loose garments while painting, aiming to be irresponsible in the studio, and a lot more. Gavin Gleeson (b.1995) is an American artist born in Iowa to Irish parents and raised in Kentucky. Now based in London, he holds an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art (2024) and a Post-Baccalaureate diploma in Studio Art from...

Artist Danny Leyland talks about strategies for re-organizing paintings, working towards an archival approach to image-making, how drawing is informing his way forward, and more. Danny Leyland (b.1994) is an artist and educator from Oxford, UK, currently based in London. His practice is led by painting, but also encompasses drawing, printmaking and writing. A graduate of Edinburgh College of Art (...

Artist Scarlett Budden talks about writing scripts for paintings, staging ideas, how she thinks about surface in relation to her subject matter, and more. Scarlett’s work explores the complexities of spectatorship and the voyeuristic exploits within both cinematic practices and the traditions of figurative painting. The female protagonist occupies theatrical yet ambiguous spaces that collapse the...

Artist Gabe Duarte talks about reconnecting with their practice in the context of returning to their hometown, their diverse array of technical and mental approaches drawing, community in relation to observation, and more. Gabe Duarte: “My practice is driven by observing objects that are lost, forgotten and the anonymous actions that left them where and how they were found. I’ve been questioning w...

Artist Samantha Jackson talks about how her work addresses what she terms “stoppages,” the holistic aspirations of her multidisciplinary practice, making work unconditionally, and more. Samantha’s work is a gestural exploration of everyday life and the relationships that emerge between painting, material and site through making. She paints on found materials using water based pigments that allow t...

Artist Rita Fernández talks about making unforgiving paintings, leaning into instinctual forms, how she approaches self-portraiture, and much more. Rita Fernández (b. 1999), is a Mexican artist graduated from the Royal College of Art (MA: Painting). She has a BA in Philosophy from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and a background in the film industry. Her work is an exploration of self-port...

Artist Jack Hilton talks about leading with color, how failure begets momentum, the literary touchpoints that have been informing his practice, and much more. Jack Hilton, b.1996, is a London-based painter. Hilton’s work explores history, literature and mythology. Often a real historical episode is presented like a myth or biblical drama, riffing on the long tradition of History Painting. Subjects...

Artist Toby Rainbird talks about fluidity in painting, how a recent stint in jury duty has informed his work, embracing practice parameters, and much more. Toby Rainbird (b. 1994, Jersey, C.I.) is a British artist and curator based in London. He recently completed an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art, where he was awarded the university's prestigious Hine Painting Prize. In 2016, he gradu...

Artist Matthew Gilbert talks about trusting and challenging their impulses, how film informs their process, place in relation to depicting emotion, and much more. Matthew Gilbert (b. 1997, Brooklyn, NY) is a sculptor and fiber artist based in New York’s Hudson Valley. Their pictorial rugs depict an abandoned world that combines medieval architecture with rural American iconography. Tragically fata...

Artist Raina Seung Eun Jung talks about gatherings as collective mark making, balancing risk and decisiveness in the studio, what it means to record through painting, and much more. Raina Seung Eun Jung (b. 1995, Seoul, Korea) is a London-based artist who works with diverse mediums such as traditional Korean paper, silk, and metal for surfaces and uses oil, gouache, and ink. Jung is interested in...

Artist Ruba Nadar talks about navigating shifts in self-perception as a former athlete, the complexities of autobiographical painting, how their relationship to collected objects informs their studio rhythm, and much more. Ruba Nadar (b.1998) is a painter based in London, UK. Their practice is guided by questions of tenderness, eroticism, and Arab-ness. By dissecting and reassembling fragments fro...

Ahead of his MA degree show, artist Jonathan Tignor talks about his recent interest in visual binaries, finding a balance between research and intuition, the life cycles of paintings, and much more. Jonathan Tignor's (b. 1997, Dallas TX) paintings betray a concern with narrative. However, this is a conflation of his interests in imagery and tension. Stories are built around tension, and Tignor use...

Artist Leroy Winter talks about his early interest in illustration, searching for the balance between control and letting go in the studio, the lineage of the subject matter that appears in his first solo show, and much more. Leroy Winter is a painter from San Antonio, Texas, currently based in Chicago, Illinois. Leroy graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in December 2021, obt...

Artist Anya Rosen talks about about the role of literature in her creative process, the meaning of home in the context of her nomadic lifestyle, and balancing her multidisciplinary practice with her work in agriculture. Anya Rosen (b. 1989) is an artist currently living in Brooklyn, NY. Inspired by the fraught relationship between humanity and natural resources, Anya has spent the past six years w...

Artist and educator Clara Nulty talks about her approach to teaching, her relationship to watercolor, the balance between spontaneity and intention in some of her recent works, and much more. Born and raised in New York, Nulty now lives and works in Louisville, CO. Nulty completed her MFA in Painting at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in May 2021. She also holds a BA in Studio Art from Carleton Colle...

Ahead of his final weeks at RISD, artist Joel Seow talks about everything from his early love of dinosaur illustrations to the recent introduction of egg tempera to his practice. Joel is an artist from Singapore who is currently pursuing his undergraduate degree in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. Approaching representational painting with a contemporary sensibility, he is concerned...