Inked Histories and Painted Futures: A Journey Through Art

Monocarpic by Xia Smith | 122 x 170 cm |

Dear friends

As we conclude another vibrant week at New Blood Art, I'm pleased to share some exciting updates with you.

Emerging Talents

I'm excited to introduce new works by several promising artists who have recently joined New Blood Art:

Xia Smith: I'm pleased to announce that I have personally selected Xia Smith for this year's prestigious art prize. Her recent work, exhibited at her degree show at Bath Spa University, showcases a unique blend of fine art and tattoo culture. Xia's compositions are characterized by dreamlike symbolism set against serene blue-lilac void landscapes. Her innovative approach bridges traditional fine art techniques with tattoo art, creating a distinctive visual language. Xia's use of Japanese silk painting techniques alongside tattoo art offers a unique perspective on cultural exchange in contemporary art.

Wait a Little Longer For the Rain by Xia Smith

Wait a Little Longer For the Rain by Xia Smith. 93 x 107 cm.

Silk painting on wood frame

Zoe Maxwell

Zoe's practice explores the vagaries of memory through a constructivist lens, focusing on the reconfiguration of recollection rather than reproducing the past. Inspired by the fallibility of memory, her work uses photographs as catalysts, mimicking the process of episodic memory. Zoe's method involves introducing new traces through drawing and handling paint, creating scenes that extend from the original source material. Her paintings feature intentional disruptions to the surface, with structured lines and blurred areas, questioning the reliability of recollection and the truth projected onto captured images.

Draped Sands by Zoe Maxwell

Draped Sands by Zoe Maxwell. 20 x 31 cm. Original painting in oil on board.

Holly Hinchcliffe: Holly's practice aims to highlight small moments in nature based on her own experiences, with a particular focus on water. Her work explores the transformative act of painting and incorporates research into water, memory as a cognitive function, the simulacrum, and humans' connection to nature. Her most recent exhibition presents a series of landscapes that encourage viewers to reconnect with nature and question their relationship with technology

Good Intentions by Holly Hinchliffe

Good Intentions by Holly Hinchliffe. 45 x 50 cm. Original painting in oil on mdf.

Maisy Timney: Through a formalist approach to abstract painting, Maisy explores motif, form, and color. Her work investigates the interplay between pictorial depth and flatness in a two-dimensional space. By exploring the boundary between the materiality of paint and visual representation on canvas, Maisy creates compositions featuring elements of both graphic flatness and painterly gesture. Her paintings offer a sense of unpredictability combined with deliberate, premeditated paint application, emphasizing the process-based nature of painting.

Wave by Maisy Timney