“Paint has always been the hero; The alchemy of mixing, pouring and rubbing away has made paint and the process of painting integral to my creative expression” – Kerry Harding
Kerry Harding is an experimental oil painter who views the rugged coastline of North Cornwall through the lens of modern romanticism. Through constant observation of the landscape that wraps around her life, throughout the seasons and over many years, she has developed an intimate understanding of the living history of a place that continues to surprise and inspire her every day. Moving beyond the traditions of landscape painting, Harding’s works communicate this deeper connection to her surroundings, simultaneously capturing the viewer’s imagination with their immediate beauty and rewarding those who pay attention long enough to understand the many layers that have contributed to their formation.
Central to Harding’s practice is her process of reusing canvases, some several years old, which bear the scars of being stripped and layered with paint numerous times. Examining the existing markings on a canvas, the artist will rotate, flip or resize the fabric until she finds the starting point for a new work; something that connects with a memory of the landscape onto which she applies new markings and layers to the canvas directly. Centuries of weathering and erosion that have formed, and continue to shape, the Atlantic coastline are mirrored in the artist’s working and reworking of the canvas, giving her paintings a history and authenticity of their own.
In Harding’s works, seemingly familiar scenes are distorted, their elements manipulated such that they cannot be pinpointed in reality. Playing with perspective, experimental sections of the canvas sit alongside those painted with photorealistic precision – the way the sunlight hits the canopy of a tree, the sense of movement within a mackerel sky, the way a gentle wind casts ripples through the sea – bringing the fleeting nature of the landscape’s beauty into focus. Feeling a kinship to the romanticism of Caspar David Friedrich, the hyperrealism of Gerhard Richter, the optical illusions of Bridget Riley and vivid poetry of Emily Dickinson, Harding deliberately accentuates the elements of natural beauty that can be found through close and prolonged examination of our surroundings and, ultimately, her works encourage the viewer to be cognisant of their own fleeting presence in the world.
Harding holds a BA in Fine Art from Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University (1991-94) and an MA in painting from Falmouth University (2000-03). She has been exhibited widely across the UK and internationally, most recently represented by Candida Stevens Gallery.. Born in 1972, she lived in London and Cape Town before moving to Cornwall in 2008, where she lives with her husband and two children.
Education
2000-03
MA Painting, Falmouth University, Cornwall
1991-94
BA Hons Fine Art, Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University
1990-91
Foundation, Mid Cheshire College, Cheshire
Selected Exhibitions
2025
Works on Paper 7 Blue Shop Galleries, London
‘1 Large 2 Small 10 Artists’ Candida Stevens Gallery
2024
Selected for Wells Contemporary, Wells Cathedral, Somerset
‘As if by Osmosis’ Candida Stevens Gallery
2023
The Discerning Eye, selected by Peju Oshin, Mall Galleries, London
‘When Feeling Out of Sight’ Candida Stevens Gallery, Cromwell House, London
2022
‘Edge of Day’ Candida Stevens Gallery, Chichester, West Sussex
‘Water and Ways’ Candida Stevens Gallery, Chichester, West Sussex
2021
‘Being with Trees’ The Arborealists, The Bermondsey Project Space, London
‘Being with Trees’ The Arborealists, Gustavo Bacarisas Galleria, Gibralta
‘Weathering the Storm’ Candida Stevens Gallery, Chichester, West Sussex
‘Wider than the Sky, Deeper than the sea’ The Stratford Gallery, Gloucestershire
‘Painted Postcards’ Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall
‘The Top 100’ The Auction Collective, The Department Store, Brixton, London
Livingstone St Ives, Cornwall
2020
The Arborealists at The National Memorial Arboretum, Staffordshire
‘Postcards from the edge’ The Byre Gallery, Cornwall
Cor Gallery, Falmouth, Cornwall
‘Ocean Anthology’ The Stratford Gallery, Gloucestershire
‘Can you see the sea’? Livingstone St Ives, Cornwall
The Art Buyer, Upstart Gallery, London
2019
‘Breath’ The Stratford Gallery, Stratford upon Avon ‘Where the land lies’ The Byre Gallery, Cornwall
The Princes Trust Auction, Highgrove, Gloucestershire
The Arborealists at The Collegiale Sainte-Croix de Loudun, France
‘The Spring Auction’ The Auction Collective, Menier Gallery, London
‘Spring’ Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance, Cornwall
Far & Wild Gallery, Perranporth, Cornwall
Axel Arts, Bath
2018
‘Winter at The Byre’ The Icing on the Cake
‘Winter Exhibition’ Cornwall Contemporary Gallery
Far & Wild Gallery, Perranporth, Cornwall
The Arborealists at St Ives Society of Artists, St Ives Cornwall
Artwave West Gallery, Dorset
The Byre Gallery, ‘Hidden Depths’
The Arborealists with Paul Nash at Black Swan Arts, Somerset
The Arborealists at John Davies Gallery, Gloucestershire
‘Spring show’ Cornwall Contemporary Gallery
Penwith Gallery, St Ives, St Ives School of Painting tutor show
‘Spring Show’ Artwave West Gallery, Dorset
‘Winter Show’ Cornwall Contemporary Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall
2017
‘Into the Woods’ The Byre Gallery, Cornwall
‘An Everyday Intimacy’ solo, Beside the Wave, Falmouth, Cornwall
Membership to Arborealists
Winter show, Circle Contemporary, Cornwall
2016
‘Special Collection’ Badcocks at Beside the Wave, Falmouth
‘There and back again’ with Marion Taylor, Penwith Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
‘Featured Artist’, Bath Contemporary Gallery, Bath
Denise Yapp Fine Art, Monmouth
2015
Penwith Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
‘Cornwall Untitled, Badcocks Gallery at Beside the Wave London
2014
Hilton Fine Art Gallery, Bath
Penwith Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
2013
‘Coast Matter’ Solo show, Heseltine Gallery, Truro
2010
NSA Double Vision, Exchange Gallery, Penzance
2007-09
Micheal Obert Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2007
‘Sun, Aloe, Rain’ Solo show, Campden Gallery, Gloucestershire
2006
Solo and mixed shows, Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall
Winter Exhibition, Campden Gallery, Gloucestershire
2005
NSA at Thompsons The City Gallery, London
NSA critics choice, Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall
Solo show, Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall
Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
Miami Art Fair, Florida, USA
2004
Solo and mixed shows, Lemon Street Gallery, Truro, Cornwall
Solo and mixed shows, Campden Gallery, Gloucestershire
2003
Residency, Perth International Arts Festival, Kidogo Arthouse, Perth, Australia
Goldfish Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall
Solo and mixed shows, Bishop Phillpotts Gallery, Cornwall
Shortlisted for ROSL scholarship
2002
Bishop Philpotts Gallery, Truro, Cornwall
Northcote Road Gallery, London
2001
Winter Exhibition, South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts, Exeter, Devon
Solo exhibition, Phoenix Gallery, South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts, Devon
Northcote Road Gallery, London
2000
Solo and mixed shows, Clapham Art Gallery, London
1999
Solo and mixed shows, Clapham Art Gallery, London
Euroart, Berlin, Germany