Chloe S Moncrieff
Born 1976, London, UK
Bio
I went to art college at Winchester School of Art for foundation, before completing a degree in English. I've completed three months at the Royal Drawing School and a year on the Turps correspondence course, mentoring under Sarah Pickstone.
Practice
I work in a light box joined onto my home. In the corner, I work on a large easel where I use top quality oil paints and Winsor & Newton professional materials such as high pigment Artists' oil colour. Generally, I like making the canvases myself - my Dad is a picture conservator, who was lucky enough to train under Helmut Ruhemann from the National Gallery, which helps this task no end. We tend to use Bird & Davis quality stretchers. For priming, I paint several layers of gesso. I sand to ensure a smooth texture.
About
Last year, I attended the Cel del Nord residency in Catalonia producing a body of work now with AucArt, the global auctioneers. I've also received tutelage with the New Platform Art professional development programme, Royal Drawing School and Turps Banana Art School. I've two children, Delphine and Sid, many hens, fantail doves and various other animals, all of which inform my work.
For selected shows, awards and press, see CV.
Statement:
As the global situation becomes wracked with aggression, my investigations increasingly depict longed for landscapes. These are wild sensuous environments, tempered by a sense of abandonment - there’s a yearning for more benevolent worlds.
I’m interested in our cognitive dissonance with the environment, how we Disnify it, herald it, yet at the same time destroy it. The artwork explores this and ultimately, the insignificance of humanity. Whether it’s a solitary figure, or an empty scene, out of kilter space is key. The subtle shapes and glowing colours allude to an expanse where nature dances centrestage.
I draw inspiration from literature and poetry. It could be a misty blue weaving vista, or a fluid glimmering forest, but the composition is regularly informed by quotes I jot down, or my own words. Brushmarks tend to be fast, fleeting; there’s an urgency, a sense of transience, as if the image might melt away.
Forces are explored; I describe this through wind, light, using archetypes such as mountains, fire and waves. Mostly, I paint women in these scenes. Women who have escaped, migrated or are seeking refuge, reflecting my own internal dialogue.
Ultimately, I want my process to communicate beauty, sadness, joy, longing, memory, and trepidation, entwining these paradoxes into a tapestry reflecting our anxious collective psyche in 2025.
For commissions, sales, curatorial enquiries, email me here
Thank you!