Artist Statement

My work lives at the intersection of intuition and art historical memory — large-format oil paintings that emerge from a deeply lyrical engagement with the past and an embodied response to the present. I draw from the compositional grandeur of Renaissance art, the organic rhythms and ornamental sensibilities of Rococo painting, and the reverence for light found in Impressionism. Yet these references are not blueprints but whispers — subtle sparks that dissolve into gesture, texture, and atmosphere through a process of digital and visual synthesis.

Before relocating to the South of France, I lived in a dense urban environment marked by the grit and immediacy of street art, which shaped my early textural work. But immersed in the South’s light, beauty, and historical stillness, something shifted. The Provençal landscape infused my palette with breath and luminosity, and I embraced oil paint alone. Drawn back to the classical, I began exploring trompe l’œil, or “to deceive the eye” — a technique woven into French visual culture — to introduce illusion into contemporary abstraction.

My process begins with sourcing references from classical paintings, setting intentional time constraints on my engagement with them. In doing so, I allow light, pigment, gesture, and rhythm to become ephemeral — absorbed quickly, then recalled entirely by intuition. From there, I build broad contrasts of dark and light, intuitively establishing spatial rhythm and creating soaring ‘moments’ that guide the eye across the canvas. Some areas are rendered in detail, others left raw to preserve tactility — a slow, embodied counterpoint to the speed and disposability of digital images, favouring presence over perfection.

What emerges is a visual memory: a fleeting, digital experience, slowed down and transformed into something wholly tactile and timeless in paint. One can find fleeting flourishes, petal-like forms, and atmospheric veils that seem to be carried by wind across these imagined terrains. The compositions envelop the viewer in an environment that is both deeply present and curiously placeless.

These paintings are not narratives but experiences, inviting sensation over interpretation. They immortalise the energy, emotion, and rhythm of a studio session, where the spirit of the past meets creative intuition.

The work invites communion — a ‘place’ for shared vulnerability between myself and the viewer. Each brush mark says: Here is where I was. Here is how I moved for this moment — giving the viewer permission to be just as present. The paintings offer ambiguous spaces to dwell and feel, where one is not simply looking at something, but inside something.

Artist Biography

Amy Magee (b. 1997) is a British artist from Herefordshire, U.K., whose creative journey led her from the vibrant melting pot of Bristol to the artistic landscapes of Southern France.

She earned a BSc in Psychology from the University of Exeter and later completed an intensive painting residency at the New York School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

Amy found early inspiration in the evocative figurations of Michelangelo and Caravaggio, and later Jenny Saville, whose boundary-pushing works revealed the power of merging classical figuration with modern abstraction. Fascinated by the human mind and how we process visual information, Amy deeply resonated with the Abstract Expressionists, and her work took on an abstract dimension. Now, her paintings are windows into unfiltered emotion, guided by intuition and classical influences such as Renaissance and Rococo art. She conjures dreamscape paintings that evoke both the essence of the South of France and her own inner world.

To date, Amy has exhibited in London, Florence, NYC, and at several art fairs. Her work now features in private collections worldwide, and she continues to work globally on commissioned projects for private collectors and commercial clients.

Recent Exhibitions:

SVA NYC, New York, 2025 Group Open Studio Exhibition

Amy has exhibited at over 40 art fairs and exhibitions across the world, including:

Alexander Palace Art Fair, London UK; 2025

Battersea Affordable Art Fair, London UK, Spring, 2025

Museo Bellini, Florence, IT, June 2023