Receiving the grant would allow me to have paid work as an artist during the economic crisis, and hence go deeper into my painting practice without the constraints and time pressure of surviving in a city with rising living costs. The grant would do this through offsetting studio and living expenses.
Having recently received ACE funding for my solo exhibition Harangled at Flatland Projects in Bexhill-on-Sea, I realised how much of a positive impact it had had on my practice in that it allowed me to really focus on the development of artistic work, rather than unrelated paid work. Reflecting on this process, I realise that my work became stronger from this extended focus and I would like to build and expand on the momentum gained through this.
To develop the paintings for Harangled I began a process of making models that I staged with lighting and fabric into large vivant tableaux assemblages to paint from. This process had to be rushed because of the exhibition deadline so I would specifically like to spend more time developing this method of painting. The grant would allow me to further my practice by giving me more time to lean into each stage of my process; making more considerate models and drawings, before developing painted studies, and spend time staging the tableaux with lighting and backdrops for the final paintings.
As materials are my largest expense, the grant would allow me to invest in my work through purchasing materials of a higher quality, i.e. oil paint, canvas, wood, fabrication costs etc. The grant would also provide me with funds to buy materials such as fabric and lighting to allow for a more ambitious staging and model making.
I would approach receiving this funding by using the same structure as my recent successful ACE grant: by making an itemised expenses budget to assign the funding to materials, fabrication costs, artist fee and any travel to Darlington.
As part of the prize I would propose to hold workshops for young people local to Darlington. This would require further support from a local gallery or institution to be able to achieve, and possibly some match funding, but is something I have had positive experiences with as part of my recent exhibition in Bexhill-on-Sea. Here, the gallery team supported me in holding workshops with Year 5 students, where they co-created papier maché tableaus with me, which were then used as models for the paintings I later exhibited.
As part of the workshops we reflected on and made sculptures of the local environment and infrastructure informed by the students’ own experiences. These sculptures would join the assemblages of models that I would paint from in my studio.
We then revisited the exhibition of finished works with the groups to discuss and engage them within this stage of the process too. I propose to do something similar in Darlington and by doing this I hope to ensure that the work would challenge ideas of the geographical and historical environment of Darlington and be relevant to this specific regional audience.
As an artist and painter I’m particularly interested in the artistic possibilities of resistance, satire, mockery and evasion. I take cues from mechanics, cartoons, tableaus, theatre and literature, with mischievous influences from Punch and Judy and Looney Tunes to Goethe’s slapstick tragedy Faust. Across this broad spectrum of references is a commonality: absurdity, animation, action and rule breaking. In my practice, I observe sculptural assemblages through painting. The works exist between the territories of still-life and landscape, painting and sculpture. The process I currently use involves making models to paint from, which I stage with lighting and fabric into tableaus and dioramas. The models are made of cardboard, paint or papier mache. The paintings carry the vernacular of their material origins, yet allow the subjects to transform across multiple forms and meanings. It is important that although they are representational, they lead the viewer into an altered way of seeing. The world of my paintings have slightly adjusted visual values. I create this by working within different stages and “filters”; first material models, then drawing, and then paint. Through this process there is a representational removal and artistic translation at play. Recent solo exhibitions include: Brooke Benington, London (2025); Flatland Projects, Bexhill-on-Sea (2024–25); Guts Projects, London (2024).
Recent Group exhibitions include: Twilight Contemporary (upcoming 2025), Eastside Projects and Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham (2024); Goldsmiths CCA, London (2023); Horse Hospital, London (2023); Massimo de Carlo, VSpace (2023); The Bomb Factory, London (2023); London Bronze Editions, London (2022); Well Projects, Margate (2022); Jupiter Woods, London (2022); VSSL Studios, London (2022); The Turner House, Penarth (2021); OD Arts Festival, Dorset (2021); and Bowes Parris Gallery and Harlesden High Street, London (2020).
Yes, from 2014 – 2017 I did a Bachelor (Hons) of Fine Art at Goldsmiths University of London and from 2011-12 I did a Foundation Diploma Art and Design, Central Saint Martins.
For my solo exhibition and project Harangled at Flatland Projects, Bexhill-On-Sea, I was awarded an Arts Council National Lottery Project Grant. The exhibition itself was part of a Talent Accelerator Grant, granted by De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill.
Other awards include:
London Bronze Fellowship joint awardee (2022)
Arts Council Project Grant Award for the project and exhibition ‘Metamorph’ (2021-22)
Into the Wild. Chisenhale Art Place programme, London (2018-19)
Yes, I am part of an artist-led studio in South East London, which we organise together.
I have previously collaborated with a group of artists to make a collective work called ‘Metamorph’. The moving image work we developed reimagined the myth of Daphne through a queer transcultural lens.
Yes, my solo exhibition ‘Harangled’ (2024-2025 Flatland Projects, Bexhill-on-Sea) was my first solo commission by a public institution.
Yes, my collaborative work ‘Metamorph’ which was exhibited at Goldsmiths CCA’s ‘Unruly Bodies’ exhibition was reviewed by The Guardian, Time Out, HENI, The Art Newspaper.
My recent solo exhibition ‘Charismatics’ was featured in Daily Lazy curated online platform.
Email: vc@veritycoward.com
Local Authority: Islington Council
