Having earned a reputation for producing topical work, British artist Stella Vine returns to London this December with a one‐day show at Cecil Sharp House in Primrose Hill‐ her first exhibition in London in eight years.

'Melting Into you' comprises entirely new works by the artist made famous by now‐iconic images of Kate Moss, Rachel Whitear and Princess Diana.

Discovered by Charles Saatchi nearly a decade ago in a small gallery in London’s East End, the art dealer made her the centrepiece of his 2004 New Blood show catapulting her to overnight art world fame. At once naïve and bright, she has since become a leading figure in the UK arts’ scene and yet remains willfully peripheral to it admitting even now to “a fear” of exhibitions. It’s a dichotomy reflected in her earlier work: childish, saccharine images of doe‐eyed, flush‐cheeked women including Princess Diana and Kate Moss frequently set off with unsettling text scrawled in blood‐red paint.

To mark her London return, the artist has deliberately opted for a venue that she feels a close affinity with. “I like the building and the people”, Vine says of Cecil Sharp House, home to the English Folk Dance and Song Society. “It is homely and creative, a lovely part of the community, accessible, affordable and it reminds me of Scottish dancing classes as a small child in Alnwick.”

The colourful portraits, childlike in essence, include Billie Holliday, Sylvia Plath, Cara Delevingne (pictured above) Muhammad Ali, Princess Diana, the late actress Katrin Cartlidge, the political art/punk group Pussy Riot, and a sparkly Amy Childs of Towie fame (a lively finger‐painting complete with pink glitter earrings).

Stella describes her cast of characters: “I tend to paint my own life and the world around. I loved the glorious technicolour movies as a child, and Powell & Pressburger films, and I've always been drawn to a kind of autobiography in all art forms. I'm drawn to painting other people as much as expressing my own life, somehow the two melt together.”

Cecil Sharp House
2 Regent’s Park Road
London NW1 7AY United Kingdom
Ph. +44 (0)20 74852206
info@efdss.org
www.stellavine.com

Opening hours
Saturday 14th of December
From 2pm to 4pm

Related images

  1. Sylvia seaside, 58 x 79 cm, acrylic on hand-made paper, Stella Vine, 2013
  2. Sienna pink sparkly dress, Stella Vine, 2013
  3. Pussy riot butterfly (Nadya, Masha & Katya), acrylic and collage on handmade paper, Stella Vine, 2013
  4. Diana blue dress, oil on paper, (Princess Diana), 2013
  5. Kat (acrylic on paper), Stella Vine, 2013
  6. Cara black lace dress (58 x 79cm approx acrylic on hand-made paper), Stella Vine, 2013