Caroline Thomson creates paintings of figures, specifically children, immersed within a landscape. They are absorbed within their own world. Ideas around childhood, the nature of imagination and memory are entangled in these enchanted spaces, where the children are the protagonists of their own making. Thomson draws on the rich artistic and literary history of woodland and forests which act as a metaphor for retreat, transformation or the unknown to create psychologically charged paintings.
The works range in scale from small intimate works to larger more immersive paintings. Drawn from personal photographs the paintings emerge from thin washes of oil paint combined with a rhythmic calligraphic line, allowing light and colour to create atmosphere. As the painting evolves it transcends its photographic origins allowing ideas of time and memory to become embedded within the layers of paint.
Caroline Thomson is an artist and MA Fine Art graduate of Chelsea College of Art (2003) and BA Fine Art Painting graduate of Kingston University (1998). She recently participated in the Turps Banana Off-Site Painting Programme (2019/2022). Selected group exhibitions include London Paint club Selects Vol2, A Generous Space 3 at Huddersfield Art Gallery, as well as shows at Thames-Side Studios Gallery, Fitzrovia Gallery, Studio 1.1, The Mall Galleries, The Harley Gallery, Menier Gallery, Seven Seven Gallery, The Residence and Art Sway. She had her first solo exhibition at Intercession Gallery, Northampton (2018). Her work has been selected for the Anomie Collections 1 (2023) which is published in their book Anomie Collections 1, Lynn Painter Stainers Painting Prize Exhibition (2018, 2019) and ING Discerning Eye Exhibition (2019) and has been shortlisted for the Jackson’s Painting Prize 2022 and longlisted for John Moores Painting Prize (2020). Her work is held in numerous private collections both nationally and internationally.