27 Nov - 6 Dec 12-6pm
Preview - 26 Nov - 6-8pm
Soho, London
 
This exhibition marks a new chapter in Frances Crichton Stuart’s artistic journey. Created during a period of newfound freedom, the collection brings together paintings that explore what it means to be human—holding humour, celebration and darkness in balance.
No single style defines the work. Childhood drawings, memories, Scottish landscapes and personal experiences of loss and displacement are transformed through colour, gold and imagination. Some paintings are playful and deceptively simple; others reveal layers of underpainting and pentimento, showing the process of wrestling with an idea until something new emerges.
Familiar influences remain, but Frances approaches them with greater freedom, curiosity and instinct.

The result is an exhibition that feels deeply personal, unmistakably new and entirely her own.

All works for sale - contact to enquire

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ARTIST'S STATEMENT
 
Spinning hard truths with colour and gold , these paintings turn silence, loss and displacement into images that lift the human spirit.
 
My work  records what it means to be human holding humour, celebration , and darkness in balance. 
 
No single style defines me. While some pieces appear childlike, that simplicity carries serious weight. Many paintings begin with small sketches from life, a method I have continued since childhood. I often return to my old sketchbooks for inspiration. There are  precious childhood drawings my mother kept which I have transformed into large paintings in a quest to source the memories from childhood and also the small things that inspire gratitude.
 
Underneath the brightness there is often a personal story of displacement and struggle. As a woman I was taught to keep silent, but painting has given me a voice and a way to access feelings. I  don’t paint stories literally; Instead, I embroider them, the way my upbringing taught me to embroider the truth. A crow  seizing a gosling references a moment of personal loss and grief; a girl cutting up old love letters turns an old hurt into something new. 
 
On the shoulders of giants
 
Along the way, I have drawn on many illustrators, writers,  poets, and painters ; colour from Matisse, drawing  from Seurat, intimacy from Bonnard, joy from Dufy, quiet unease from Hopper. 
 
The devotional art of Christian Coptic Icon painting has lent me its  language of simplicity. I borrow the language of icon painting freely, not to imitate but to find my own voice. On my scottish  walks with my dog Domino i am constantly inspired uplifted  and in awe of creation in all its myriad forms. The wild geese, the Turneresque skies, the buzzards circling and the silence. 
 
Sometimes  I wrestle with a painting, hence the layers of underpainting or pentimento that build up as forms and brushstrokes change my ideas. This is my way of discovering, or perhaps uncovering, and always contains a sense of play. 
 
Freedom  
 
The last decade has been a special time.  A new autonomy has arrived in my life that has given me the gifts of time, resources and a studio in a quiet rural village in Scotland. This has granted  me the freedom to paint what I want, when I want , and however I want.  For this I feel grateful. 
 
 I offer these paintings each one with its own distinct character. I want viewers to meet the work on their own terms. So give no labels or lengthy explanations at first , hoping people will be drawn to something that speaks to them. That way we build a story together.