Training Speciality: Painting and Printmaking

Training/studies: Completed one year of a Fine Art degree, headed by Richard Hamilton and Victor Passmore. Fine Art Degree obtained at Camberwell School of Art, London.

Areas lived in: London, Kent and Sussex

Technical information: Although Maia Spall’s degree is in painting and printmaking, she has chosen now to specialise in painting, exploring various painting mediums as part of her process of image-making. She may use in her work  – oils, acrylics, acrylic inks, spray paint, collage and/or oil pastels. The size of the surfaces she uses can vary but there is a preference for larger dimensions as small surfaces are more challenging to Maia’s vision of the scenes and the ideas she wants to portray.

Size of work: The smallest paintings so far are 30x30cm and the largest is 140×125.5cm

Influence of other artists: As a child, Maia was given the gift of a small representation of a Russian icon which became very special to her. When she was at art school, she was influenced by Sonia and Robert Delaunay with their exploration of colour and light. At that time, she felt she was emotionally impacted by the exhibitions of Max Beckman and Mark Rothko. Her later paintings have been described as Turneresque at a time when she lived by the sea in Whitstable near Margate in Kent and started producing seascapes. She discovered in retrospect that she had unwittingly been using the same method of applying paint as Turner, which gave the colour application and spaciousness the likeness to Turner’s seascapes.
Yet her favourite artists are those who explore abstraction. She gives as examples artists such as Nicholas De Stael, Gustav Singier, Patrick Heron. Her great love is the work of Scottish artist Joan Eardley.

Exhibitions (in Galleries): Greenwich, Blackheath, Whitstable, Canterbury, Folkestone, Ascot.
(Online exhibitions): The Green Chair Online Gallery; SICA International; SICA Britain; SICA-USA.

Commissions accepted. Prices of work: £350 – £900

Website: https://maiaspall.co.uk