Arabella Brooke

‘My work is figurative and based on observation, mostly recorded in sketch books, but also on scraps of paper, receipts, the backs of envelopes. This recording, often only a scribbled line, or suggestion of a form, is the starting point for a long process of development in the studio, where their components get rearranged and refigured, until they take on a new and distinct identity of their own.’  

Arabella graduated from Oxford University in 1995 with a masters degree in English Literature, spending the next six years working as a fund manager for a global investment bank. However, she was never comfortable in this role, and eventually she left the City to follow her first love, sculpture.

The figures seem to tell a story, although they are never explicit, there’s room for the viewer to find meaning. 'Anatomically speaking, liberties have been taken, but they are based on a sound understanding of the human form. I am drawn to represent women, and to challenge conventional ideas about female beauty and womanhood, but the figures in my work also explore more general themes about identity and relationships, and about the struggle to find truth and meaning in a fast-moving and disposable world.'

Arabella is a member of the Chelsea Art Society, winner of the Ridgeway Prize for best sculpture, and a regular exhibitor at the Discerning Eye exhibition amongst others. She also teaches regularly at The Art Academy, London.
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