“British artist Barbara Peirson uses paint to devise the stories she sees conjured in the landscape around her. Painting enigmatic figures into her charming scenes leaves the viewer grasping to capture the transient moment portrayed. Whether real or imagined, the elusive narrative often feels reminiscent of faded tales and memories.

Initially having trained as an actor, it’s easy to understand why narrative is so instinctually woven into the fabric of Barbara Peirson’s paintings. She likes to depict her figures in motion, as though stumbled upon halfway through a development with no sense of what the conclusion might be. Since these ‘stories’ are built around old photographs and memories her snap-shot style of painting is most certainly a fitting portrayal.

Before bringing in her characters, Barbara Peirson assembles her scenes often drawing on her surroundings for inspiration. Living along the North Sea shore in Essex, she begins her day strolling down the estuary sketching the exhaustive changes of light, land and wildlife. It’s here in nature that the foundations of Barbara Perison’s work takes shape, allowing an immediacy of place to be felt and captured. Back at her studio, the paintings are given the time and space to evolve and the additions of figures, uprooted from mind and photographic material, begin to appear.”

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