‘The warmth of an English Summer’s day or the brightness of a bouquet of wild flowers, when I paint I’m searching for luminosity and joy.’ Jessica Biggs, 2023.
Zuleika Gallery is delighted to present Fountains & Flowers, an inaugural solo exhibition of paintings by Jessica Biggs which opens in our Woodstock Gallery from 9th-27 June 2023.
Bringing together a new body of work completed over the past twelve months, our summer exhibition will feature Biggs’ paintings of fountains set within the formal gardens of Blenheim Palace, alongside her delicate floral still life paintings.
The roots of Biggs’ artistic inspiration are with the carefully observed naturalism of the French landscape artists Eugène Boudin (1824-1898) and Camille Corot (1796-1875) and with the domestic interiors of Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) and the colourful still life paintings of Winifred Nicholson (1893-1981).
Speaking about her choice of subject matter, Biggs explains, 'I am irresistibly drawn to fountains with their cool rushing water set within a hot summer landscape. Blenheim Palace with its abundance of charming vistas and splendidly ornate gardens has been a joy to capture in paint.”
The floral still life has been popular across movements, cultures and periods and there is a timeless and effervescent quality to Biggs’ richly patterned paintings with contrasting colours and shapes which together create an effect of harmony.
Biggs spends considerable time choosing and arranging the flowers before she puts paint on canvas. Biggs reveals, “I choose the flowers for the harmony of their colours, their dazzling ruffles of petals, their velvet textures and halo-like shapes. I particularly like the graceful nature of wildflowers such as poppies, cornflowers and echinacea and envisage them dancing brightly in their jugs and vases”.
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About the artist
Born in Dublin in 1984, Jessica Biggs studied her art foundation course at Wimbledon School of Art (2002-3) before completing her degree in Fine Art at Bath Spa University (2003-6). She lives and works in London.
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