Naomi Munuo

I am a fine art painter with a fashion design background. I studied at Central St Martins in the late 80’s early 90’s. I have taught art and run an arts faculty for many years alongside producing and exhibiting my work. I now dedicate my full time to creating and exhibiting my artwork. My work is representational – still life, interiors and figure mainly. I aim to bring elements of the unexpected and accidental to give the work, life and freedom.

I work with a range of media. Currently focussing on acrylic painting but love to work with collage and a whole variety of mixed media. I am also very excited by print and have been working on a collection of screen and block prints. I enjoy the intensity of the colour that can be achieved with acrylic paint, the fast-drying nature of it lends itself to the way I like to work, building up layers. As with screen printing, I enjoy making my own stencils to use with paint.

My work is of the decorative mid-century style inspired by the modern masters and my interior surroundings. I set up still life scenes with objects and artefacts from around my house. The figures I draw have a sculptural element to them. I grew up surrounded by my father’s sculptures and my mother’s collections of vintage ceramic ornaments, fabrics and colourful abstract paintings.

Since leaving the family home many years ago I have set out to establish collections like this in my own home and studio, which are a constant source of inspiration for me. Colour, composition, tonal contrast and spontaneous mark making are important. I take interest in those masters of the twentieth century who explored these possibilities in their work.

My artistic intention is to create a frisson between joyful colour harmonies and compositional structure whilst narrating the drama which exists in the relationship between the object and its environment. I am keen to capture the essence of form and juxtapose this with flat patterned areas. From my work I hope the viewer will take away some of the beauty that I see in everyday things.

Click here to see our selected works by Naomi