I started painting as a child. I have taken art lessons (drawing and painting) since the age of 5. I continued to take lessons and majored in Art at my high school, Crossroads, and graduated as a National Arts Merit Scholar. I received both an MA in art history from London University and an MFA in painting from The Slade school UCL.
Euan Uglow was my mentor and friend. He has probably been the greatest influence on me and how I see the world around me. I mostly paint from life and developed my use of measurement and color from my time at The Slade in London. When I cannot paint from life, I use photo references, but I definitely feel my vast experience painting from life has helped me see and not be limited by the photograph.
My work has evolved as did my ability, but I do think that one can see a quintessential something that would be definable as “me” throughout my life in my work. There are general themes and framing of images that I use throughout my life. I have always been a “life painter” never for one minute wavering from my conviction and deep rooting in the physical world. For me, the physical world around us, the “visible world” is the door to a deeper reality that is always lurking close behind the clearly visible. While I paint from life, I hope to bring a deeper understanding to what I see.
Painting is for me both a matter of having something to say and the ability to express that message with clarity and eloquence, a message and the skill to convey it. My work exists at the juncture of skill and intent, form and function or as in Kabbalah "vessel" and "light", both must be one and united.
Very sincerely,
Lindsay Hirsch