ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Louise Body Paints Coastlines From Memory, Not Observation

artist · 2026-10-19

Louise Body, a British artist born in 1974 in Southend-on-Sea and currently residing in Hastings, produces landscapes that defy easy categorization, blending various coastlines through the lens of memory instead of relying on photographs. She graduated with a Fine Art degree from Nottingham Trent University in 1996 and launched a wallpaper business in 2003, which she closed in 2020 to devote herself to painting. Her design work included partnerships with Paul Smith and Dr. Martens, with her Garden Birds wallpaper now housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Body's acrylic paintings, characterized by layers and glazes, draw inspiration from artists such as Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and Paul Klee, and have been displayed in private collections, Northumberland, and London, as well as featured in Elle Decoration and Coast Magazine.

Key facts

  • Louise Body was born in Southend-on-Sea in 1974 and lives and works in Hastings, England
  • She graduated in Fine Art from Nottingham Trent University in 1996
  • She founded a wallpaper company in 2003 and closed it in 2020 to paint full-time
  • Her Garden Birds wallpaper is in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum
  • She has collaborated with Paul Smith and Dr. Martens
  • She paints in acrylic on canvas or board, often with five or six earlier compositions beneath the final surface
  • She had a solo presentation at the Old School Gallery in Northumberland and group shows at Cambridge Contemporary and The Art Buyer in London
  • One of her seascapes was used for the cover of Ian McEwan's What We Can Know, published by Penguin

Entities

Artists

Institutions

  • Nottingham Trent University
  • Victoria and Albert Museum
  • Dr. Martens
  • Old School Gallery
  • Cambridge Contemporary
  • The Art Buyer
  • Elle Decoration
  • Coast Magazine
  • King & McGaw
  • John Lewis
  • Penguin
  • AATONAU

Locations

  • Southend-on-Sea
  • United Kingdom
  • Hastings
  • England
  • Surrey
  • Brighton
  • India
  • Northumberland
  • Cambridge
  • London

Sources