Chloe S Moncrieff
Bio
I've just finished the three-month group show "little lights" curated by Nico Kos Earl and Katie Heller at Paul Smith space, Mayfair. In June I'm delighted to be showing in the exhibition, "Buzz and Hum and Wing and Song," with Tin Man Art, curated by founder James Elwes.
I originally studied art foundation at Winchester School of Art, but then completed an English degree, the latter which greatly influences my work. In 2010, I achieved three months at the Royal Drawing School. I've also had two years mentoring at Turps (23-25), the former under John Moores winner Sarah Pickstone, the latter under Scott McCracken.
My art has hung at many British institutions alongside established artists, including The Shard, Hastings Museum, and Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens. It has also been sold in various auctions including Art on a Postcard and The Auction Collective.
A highlight last year was conducting a painting workshop at Jane Austen's House in Chawton, taking inspiration from the foliage and fecundity of her garden with ten students.
I currently have three paintings at the Ashurst Collection in Spitalfields.
As the global situation becomes wracked with aggression, my investigations increasingly depict longed for landscapes. These are wild sensuous environments, tempered by a sense of abandonment.
I'm frightened by our global leaders, I'm seeking more benevolent happy worlds, I feel child like in my fear. The composition is a portal space with distorted scale, the trees, often as when we were children, are overly large, intangible.
I’m interested in our cognitive dissonance with the environment, how we Disnify it, herald it, yet at the same time destroy it. The artwork explores this and ultimately, the insignificance of humanity. Whether it’s a solitary figure, or an empty scene, out of kilter space is key. The subtle shapes and glowing colours allude to an expanse where nature dances centrestage.
I draw inspiration from literature and poetry. It could be a misty blue weaving vista, or a fluid glimmering forest, but the composition is regularly informed by quotes I jot down, or my own words. Brushmarks tend to be fast, fleeting; there’s an urgency, a sense of transience, as if the image might melt away.
Ultimately, I want my process to communicate beauty, joy, longing, femininity, entwining these unmasculine tropes into a tapestry of places to escape to.
Practice
I work in a light box joined onto my home. In the corner, I work on a large easel where I use top quality oil paints and Winsor & Newton professional materials such as high pigment Artists' oil colour. Generally, I make the canvases myself - my Dad is a picture conservator, who was lucky enough to train under Helmut Ruhemann from the National Gallery, which helps this task no end. We tend to use Bird & Davis quality stretchers. For priming, I paint several layers of gesso. I sand to ensure a smooth texture.
About
Last year, I attended the Cel del Nord residency in Catalonia producing a body of work now with AucArt, the global auctioneers. I've also received tutelage with the New Platform Art professional development programme, Royal Drawing School and Turps Banana Art School. I've two children, Delphine and Sid, many hens, fantail doves and various other animals, all of which inform my work.
For selected shows, awards and press, see CV.
For commissions, sales, curatorial enquiries, email me here
Thank you!