Jo Oakley

Flowers

Flowers

Acrylic on Canvas

Lilly's Cupboard

Lilly's Cupboard

Mixed Media on Canvas 80x80cms

Regatta

Regatta

Mixed Media on Canvas 84x124cms

Solo

Solo

Mixed Media on Canvas 91x122cms

On His Way

On His Way

Mixed Media on Canvas 40x100cms SOLD

  • Flowers
  • Lilly's Cupboard
  • Regatta
  • Solo
  • On His Way

My paintings are infinitely domestic. The images I use have become symbols of the celebration I feel for the women in my life past and present. The objects I use are deeply cherished and loved.

The kitchen is the heart of the house, the kitchen table, the pots, cups and bowls are vessels for this narrative. In the summer months I spend time on the Kent coast and have done since childhood. The nostalgia I experience here is another narrative for my work. Although using these same symbols, in my most recent paintings the perspective has shifted slightly. The previously distant shapes of the sails on the horizon have come closer. These paintings are about love, loss and the contemplation of time passing.

The surface of the canvas is built up in layers of gesso and paint – with each one showing hints of the last. This part of the process (I think) comes from my origins in printmaking. The quality of the final surface of the painting is evidence of this. The richness and depth of the surface is like the memory itself.

 

Education / Artistic Training

 

 

Foundation West Ham College of Technology Foundation Art 1982-3

North East London Polytechnic BA Honours Fine Art

Exhibitions

 

 

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition

Affordable Art Fair London, Bristol, Amsterdam

Stark Gallery London Canterbury

Smelik & Stokking Holland

Caxton Contemporary Whitstable

Summer Exhibition Dulwich Picture Gallery

Edinburgh Art Fair

New Ashgate Gallery Surrey

Cambridge Contemporary Summer Show

Urban Art Brixton

Chelsea Art Fair

Art London

ArtDog London

Castle Gallery Inverness