Artist Statement 2025:
Recently, my focus has been on painting skin—how light moves across it, its subtle undertones and how it shifts between solidity and translucency. I’ve been working in a more stripped-back way than before, using thin layers of paint and glazing techniques to build depth and luminosity without relying on heavy impasto. I want to create a sense of movement and fluidity with more economy—just enough to suggest form without over-explaining it. I’m interested in what skin implies—how it is revealed and concealed, sometimes seen as excessive or overwhelming.
I’ve been experimenting with diptychs, using the break between two canvases to subtly interrupt the eye line and composition, introducing an element of abstraction or disruption. This builds on my previous fragmented depictions of the body, but now extends to the surface itself. Alongside this, I’ve started painting on hardwood panels, approaching paintings as physical objects rather than solely as images. This stems from a growing interest in materiality—how the surface itself plays a role in the work. I’ve been building up textured, streaky grounds before painting, which creates a sense of movement across the surface and enhances three-dimensionality. I’ve also recently started working with ceramics, drawn to its tactile, sculptural possibilities. While it’s still a developing part of my practice, I see it as an extension of my interest in materiality and surface, and I imagine it will eventually intersect with my paintings in some way.
My paintings often depict bodies in intimate moments, drawn from erotic imagery, though their focus extends beyond sexuality and desire. In these images, skin often overwhelms the scene in its excess. The figures have a natural ease, and the compositions flow in a sinuous, almost Baroque manner. My paintings combine elements from multiple visual sources, layering and distilling them into a single composition. Sometimes, the nature of the scene isn’t immediately clear—only revealing itself, but not always, upon closer inspection. I like that shift in perception, where a painting gradually unfolds rather than presenting itself all at once. My recent paintings have been small in scale, encouraging physical closeness and engagement from the viewer. I like that this proximity can create a moment of tension—what at first seems abstract or ambiguous may, upon closer inspection, reveal itself as something more charged. There’s an element of intrusion in that realisation, but also a reminder that an image is often more than its surface appearance.
Previously, my work was characterised by thick, layered oil paint mixed with linseed oil, creating a fluid, almost gloopy appearance that suggested the liquidity and mutability of bodies. I was interested in ambiguity, layering, and deconstructed figures that flowed into one another. My work also explored pentimento—the visible traces of earlier marks beneath the surface—something I still think about, but now in a more subtle way.
Dreams, particularly hypnagogic states, remain a big influence. I’ve always been drawn to that space between wakefulness and sleep, where forms shift, merge, and dissolve. The dreamlike quality in my work isn’t just about subject matter but also about how things are painted—through layering, translucency, and compositions that feel just out of reach. I want my paintings to have that same quality of fluidity and instability, where the eye moves across the surface and things seem to shift as you look at them.
My paintings have long been rooted in historical influences, particularly Baroque artists like Rubens, whose depictions of flesh and composition remain a key reference for me. I’m also drawn to the grotesque, the carnivalesque, and the ways art history has represented movement and transformation—whether through Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Renaissance frescoes, or Old Master drawing techniques. Previously, literature—especially myth and folklore—was a primary starting point for my work. While those narratives still interest me, my focus has shifted more towards how paint itself can convey a feeling of instability or oscillation.
I hold a BA in Art History from UCL and an MA in Fine Art from City & Guilds of London Art School. In 2019, I participated in a two-month residency at Palazzo Monti in Brescia, Italy. My work is in private collections and institutions in the UK, US, Europe, West Africa, Asia, and South America. I currently live and work in Oxford, UK.
For more regular updates on my studio practice, please see my Instagram: @eleanorjohnsonstudio.