LARA BOWEN
At the core of Lara’s practice is a fascination with how we hold experience: emotionally, materially and neurologically. Her work explores memory, perception and sensory experience, and the ways in which places, objects and materials can carry traces of our lived histories.
Painting remains central to her practice, moving between loosely observed florals, landscape and abstraction. Working intuitively, often from memory rather than direct observation, colour, light and expressive mark-making become ways of recalling a feeling rather than describing a particular scene.
Alongside painting, Lara works across photography, found and inherited objects, installation, light, projection, sound, textiles and ceramics. Across these different forms runs a continuing interest in memory, containment and the unexpected ways experience resurfaces through colour, material, object and place.
Born by the sea in Sussex, the landscape around Brighton & Hove remains an important source of visual and sensory material, from the changing light and colour of the coast to gardens, collected objects and found materials.
Alongside her own practice, Lara has worked as a gallerist and curator for over 25 years, representing and championing contemporary artists.
Discover more about Lara’s wider practice, current research, workshops and artist mentoring through the STUDIO menu.
AVAILABLE PAINTINGS
AVAILABLE PAINTINGS
STUDIO
Situated in an old mews in Hove, the space is beautifully cool in the summer months but ice-cold in winter, so before spring arrives I paint the memories of warmer months. It's as if I'm trying to magic summer sunshine with paint.
The subject matter varies, ranging from cut flowers and travel-inspired memories to subtle colour transitions, figurative works, and the light filtering through trees. These themes often cycle and overlap, creating a dynamic interplay within my practice, keeping things fresh and constantly evolving.
In my process, objects are abstracted and reduced to their essential forms, while colours are heightened to convey the narrative. Sometimes I remove entire sections of work to reveal the ghost of those marks, only to then work into them again until the painting pings to life.
Music is always playing in my studio, particularly female singer-songwriters, whose energy often shapes both the mood of my paintings and the titles they are given.
In summer I spend time in gardens and beside water, exploring rock pools and drinking in the reflections and refractions. This generates momentum for an evolving series of paintings which are about shards of sunlight and snippets of blue skies between the tangle of growth; the above and the underneath; reflected and shaded; the crystal clear and the murkier, more confusing things.
Attempting to capture memory and emotion using coloured substances applied to a surface is compulsive and the flirt with that elusive creative magic is addictive.
The lockdown years marked a significant reset in my work where the changes in routine led to new ideas and concepts taking shape. These new concepts found their way into my paintings. While the inspiration behind my work remains the same, a more abstract approach has emerged - bolder, looser, and more expressive - from being fully present in the moment, capturing joy as it unfolds.
I now experiment with different media and techniques. The music I listen to has changed too - it's louder, more upbeat, and fills the studio with energy. I dance, I play, and I explore. This has become an integral part of my process, infusing my work with a liveliness and spontaneity.