Artist's Statement

Liese Webley’s paintings take as their starting point her engagement with an idea of environment. This may quite simply be a reaction to her immediate surroundings, or on the other hand might be an attempt to recall the memory of a place once visited. The images she uses to construct these spaces, and with which to populate them, come from a wide range of sources. Observational drawings and photographs, as well as collected material, are all employed, each in their own way in an effort to give form to her experiences and allow free association between differing visual ideas.
Liese’s work explores the relationship between recognisable shapes and structures (be they man-made or natural) and the emotional, irrational nature of human existence. She is interested in the relationship between the accidental and the deliberate, and the visual struggle generated by their interaction. Colour also plays an important role within her visual language, and she is interested in how one hue relates to another and the power they have to create balance or tension within a work. Contrast is also introduced by allowing gestural areas to co-exist with flat planes of colour and geometric shapes.
Liese’s work is not intended explicitly to give form to any specific narrative, nor does it expect to invoke any specific reaction from the viewer. She hopes, however, that through her own involvement in the process of making these images that she might register an experience, engage the imagination and offer an invitation to explore.

Liese Webley graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art (painting) from the University of Plymouth, Exeter, in 2000. After graduating she continued her art practice intermittently while working and travelling. In 2004 she attained a postgraduate teaching qualification, and throughout this period continued to exhibit her work within the local area. More recently she spent two years dividing her time between living in the U.K. as well as Cyprus, where she lived, painted and taught at the Cyprus College of Art. In June 2006 Liese returned to Exeter once more on a full-time basis, and has since been working in a local college to support herself while continuing her art practice.