'Humour is an important element in much ofmy work, but I aim to conjure a nervous smile from the viewer, rather than a belly laugh.'

Nicola Bealing enjoys absurdity and herd-like behaviour. She likes the moments when her characters flounder and sometimes she finds her subjects taking on lives of their own, acting in ways that are inexplicable even to her. Nicola’s way of drawing the viewer into her paintings is coupled with a terrific skill in handling paint, conveying formin flowing line with the lightest and boldest of brush strokes, conjuring bodies out of almost nothing.

There aren’t many artists who have been able to take contemporary figurative painting andmake it their own as distinctively as Nicola Bealing and it is the celebratory nature of the work, of all human life, the successes and the failures as well as the conviction and skill with which the work is made, that make it so distinctive. And she can make you laugh – now that is a rare skill for a serious painter.

Karen Townshend