Cornwall is one of Louise Balaam's favourite painting locations, a place she returns to again and again. She is inspired by the natural beauty of the landscape, by the sparkling light, dramatic skies and the rocky coast. Louise’s intensely atmospheric canvasses relate to the English Landscape tradition, invigorated by her immediate emotional responses to the natural world.

Louise’s work is inspired by an emotional response to the natural world in particular to the quality of light. “I draw in the landscape, collecting intormation about particular places which have meaning for me. I want to put into the paintings the experience of being there, the weather, sounds, smells, and the process of walking through the landscape as much as what I can see. Back in my studio, I use the drawings to help focus my memory, but don’t work directly from them – I find it works better to put the source material aside and to paint intuitively, so that the painting becomes an entitiy in its own right which starts to makes its own demands – in a sense, it begins to answer back.

My paintings are based on a sense of connection to the natural world, something I feel is particularily necessary now. I see my work as relating to the English landscape tradition – Constable is a big influence, especially his sketches, and modern English artists such as Peter Lanyon and are also important to me.

I like the sensuality and depth of colour of oil paint, used in direct and gestural brushstrokes, which assert the materiality of the oil paint and of the painting’s surface. I often work in oil on panel, which allows me to scratch into the wet surface. The meaning of the work emerges from the language of paint, which is allowed to be itself before it is a description of something. I am fascinated by the capacity of paint to express things which cannot be put into words: a mysterious process takes place whereby the marks of the brush work on a subtle level, setting up an emotional and poetic resonance. I paint intuitively, so the painting becomes an entity in its own right which starts to make its own demands – in a sense, it begins to answer back". - Louise Balaam

Cadogan Contemporary
87 Old Brompton Road
London SW7 3LD United Kingdom
Ph. +44 (0)20 75815451
info@cadogancontemporary.com
www.cadogancontemporary.com

Opening hours
Monday - Friday from 10am to 6pm
Saturday from 11am to 6pm