120. Holly Brodie - The light of day

2025
Oil on board
16 x 12 cm (Unframed)
19 x 15 x 4 cm (Framed)
Signed on Verso

Holly Brodie is a London-based painter interested in the subjective experience of place. Raised in rural Somerset, her work explores how responses to seemingly unremarkable landscapes are shaped by memory, atmosphere, and personal association, with a particular focus on suburbia and its layered histories.

Brodie studied English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford (1998–2001), where she was encouraged to explore the relationship between literature and visual art — a dialogue that continues to inform her practice. Her paintings often examine the emotional resonance of everyday environments, balancing close observation with subtle narrative and psychological undercurrents.

Selected exhibitions include the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London (2025; also 2007–08); the Annual Open Exhibition at the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol (2023 and multiple previous years); the ING Discerning Eye at Mall Galleries, London (2022; also 2016); Figurative Art Now at Mall Galleries (2021); the Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize Exhibition at Mall Galleries (2019 and 2015); and the John Ruskin Prize at Millennium Gallery, Sheffield (2017). Other exhibitions include the New English Art Club Annual Exhibition at Mall Galleries (2013 and 2007), the National Open Art Competition at Royal College of Art, London (2015), and Somerset House, London (2014).

In 2014, Brodie received the Winsor & Newton Painting Award at the Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition.