Louise Dear

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Statement

 

Louise Dear is a painter with a simple ambition - to create beautiful paintings.

 

She creates large, contemporary, figurative works. Passionate about colour - shocking, vibrant and intense – Louise is continually exploring the power it has to invade our senses and influence our emotions.

Louise works on large sheets of prefabricated aluminium, priming the surface then throwing, rubbing, pouring and dripping inks and dyes, glitter and glosses, to form a background - this is then sanded, scratched and distressed, depending on what image will be overlaid. Continually experimenting with a multitude of materials, she is seduced by their substances and fascinated with their movement, individual textures and how they respond to one another. As the painting evolves she becomes intrigued with the marks - how the line within a magnified face or body organically flows. Explaining, that it is as though the image has, at this stage, become a vehicle for the marks - selecting elements from a photograph and magnifying them to such an extent, creates a new dynamic.

The finished pieces are stylised and ordered, the line defining the independent sections of colour and texture.

Louise’s subjects exist on many levels, portraying innocence yet also the lack of it - the children are storybook beautiful, their unique spirit captured and immortalised in that perfect state. By securing a tender moment or snatches of childhood memories, they are incredibly sensual, captivating, reaching out to their viewer. Her portraits are sensually erotic, beautifully demure yet subtly provocative.

Influenced by Utamaro and the artists of the ‘floating world’ and more recently their influence on the Art Deco period of the early 20th century, Louise is a painter in love with painting; with a passion and urgent need to create.

Biography

 

Louise’s earliest memories are of her incredibly happy family life spent in such exotic locations as South Africa & the Far East. At the age of six the family returned to England & set up home in a small country village in the beautiful Hampshire countryside. Initially intending a career within the fashion business, Louise studied fashion design at Medway College of Art & Design yet with the spirit of adventure having been instilled so young, at the age of 21, she purchased a 1963 Bedford ambulance, painted it Honey Pink and promptly set off to see the world. Her time was spent working whilst consuming the sumptuous splendours of Europe; Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and dipping an inquisitive toe into the divine indulgence of North Africa. Returning home in 1987, Louise bought a three month return ticket to India yet did not return to England for a further seven years. Her adventures took her travelling extensively throughout South East Asia, continually gorging on it's extreme delights until eventually arriving in Darwin, North Australia. From here she travelled overland to Sydney where she & her partner set up home and Louise worked as an Exhibition Designer for Lego, Australia. In 1993 Louise came back to her roots, gave birth to her greatest creation, her daughter Lama and returned to full-time education. Now settled in the picturesque town of Totnes, Louise has been working as a professional artist since graduating from University College Chichester in 1998. Her fabulous adventures continue to enspire her work, creating paintings which are vibrant, passionate and intense with a sensual eroticism which are both provocative yet at the same time, demure.

Exhibition History

2016'VICE' C R U S H Brighton BN1 1RB
2015'RUDE' C R U S H Brighton BN1 1RB
2014Canvas Gallery Wimbledon London
2014The Bowie Gallery Totnes Devon
2014Turner Barnes Gallery Chelmsford Essex
2013The Bowie Gallery Totnes Devon
2013Turner Barnes Gallery Chelmsford Essex
2013Louise Dear studio|gallery Totnes Devon
2013Canvas Gallery Wimbledon London- solo show
2012Artica Gallery Brighton - solo show
2012The Bowie Gallery Totnes Devon
2012Castle Galleries London - 4 solo shows
2012Castle Galleries Milton Keynes - solo show
2012Canvas Gallery Wimbledon London - solo show
2011Washington Green Fine Art ICC - solo show
2011Artisan Gallery Epping Essex - solo show
2011Castle Galleries Cardiff- solo show
2011Castle Galleries Birmingham - solo show
2011Jโ€™adore Brighton - solo show
2011The Bowie Gallery Totnes Devon
2011Artica Galleries - 6 solo shows
2010Louise Dear studio|gallery Totnes Devon
2010Artisan Gallery Kingston on Thames - solo show
2010Castle Gallery Harrods London - solo show
2010Westover Gallery Bournemouth - solo show
2010Castle Gallery Exeter - solo show
2009Louise Dear studio|gallery Totnes Devon
2009The Brownston Gallery Devon - solo show
2009The Bowie Gallery Totnes Devon
2009AAF London and New York
2008Roland Lewinsky Gallery Plymouth Devon
2008AAF London Paris Amsterdam Glasgow
2008Art at Five Brighton W. Sussex
2008Louise Dear studio|gallery Totnes Devon
2008Regatta Fine Art Norfolk
2007Bel Ami Gallery Honiton Devon - solo show
2007The Picture Room Dulwich London
2007AAF London and New York
2007The Dittisham Open Dittisham Devon
2006AAF London Glasgow Bristol
2006The Green Dulwich London
2006Wills Art Warehouse Fulham London
2006Rumour Totnes Devon
2006Flowers Gallery Emsworth Hampshire
2006Red Propeller Kingsbridge Devon
2006Gallery 22 Totnes Devon
2005AAF London and New York
2005The Rill Centre Buckfastleigh Devon
2005Collyer-Bristow Gallery Bedford Row London
2005Heals Tottenham Court Road
2005Artspace Totnes Devon
2005Stewart Gallery Dartmouth Devon
2005Coombe Gallery Dartmouth Devon
2005Flowers Gallery Brighton
2005Rumour Totnes Devon - solo show
2004AAF London New York Sydney Glasgow
2004Davidsonโ€™s Mount Street London
2004Wills Art Warehouse Fulham London โ€“ 2 shows
2003AAF London New York
2003Envelope Gallery Arundel W. Sussex
2003The Mill Studio Arundel W. Sussex
2003Wills Art Warehouse Fulham Road London
2002AAF London New York
2002Fresh Art Business Design Centre London
2002Otter Gallery Chichester W. Sussex
2002Beatrice Royal Gallery Eastleigh Southampton
2002Phoenix Gallery Brighton
2001AAF London
2001Royal Academy London
2001Otter Gallery Chichester W. Sussex
2001Sir Harold Hillier Arboretum Romsey Hampshire
2001Beatrice Royal Southampton - solo show
2000AAF London
2000Beatrice Royal Gallery Eastleigh Southampton