Saturday 16 August 2014

Portfolio: Flora Malpas

15/08/14
Portfolio: Flora Malpas

“It was the themes of fragility, vulnerability and social exclusion that interested me, perhaps because of my own sense of being on the fringe because of my sexuality,” explains Greenwich-based artist Flora Malpas of her early oil paintings of residents of a care home for adults with learning and physical disabilities, often shown at a game of Scrabble.

Influenced by Lucian Freud and Graham Sutherland, Malpas likes artists who use expressive brushstrokes to communicate the sitter’s personality. “I’m interested in the individuality within each sitter and the potential to investigate your relationship with the subject through the painting process,” she says. This includes her relationships with her family members, as well as with her girlfriend Rose, a regular feature in her work.



Wanting to spend more time on her art, despite a day job, Malpas can regularly be found drawing as she travels on the underground. From her many sketchbooks, she recently began to make prints. “I’d like to do an exhibition of just prints of commuters – ‘67 faces on the tube’ or something along those lines. I make the sketches on the tube, then transfer them onto lino at home, then carve them on the tube, so there’s a strong theme of journeys there.” Malpas’s artistic journey is just beginning, so watch this space!






To see this full portfolio, please buy the September issue of DIVA magazine







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