Belinda Ireland
Contemporary Figurative Artist
“There is no beginning or end to the narratives in my paintings and drawings. Each is a moment, an exchange, in a tableau of suggestion”.
Belinda’s work brings together narratives based on her experience of childhood and adolescence, and issues of social convention and aspiration, with the symbols and icons of late 20th and early 21st century culture. In oil, pastel or charcoal she explores vivid imaginary worlds, combining personal memory with imagery from films, magazines and television to create curious scenes that reveal the depth of her inner life, and reflect changing attitudes to gender, race and relationships through her playful presentations of pop culture.
Often, she paints herself within a work, a participant in the drama and romance of a fantasy world where longings and fears are mixed with inspirational stories and characters. Her compositions evolve through the cutting out and assembling of drawn or found images that reference her childhood experiences. Her use of light and structure is drawn from both 17th century painting and 20th century cinematography, while her approach to colour flattens the image into a cats-eye of shifting visual information that blurs the boundary between fact and fiction.
Bio & CV
Belinda Ireland studied Fine Art Painting at the Central School of Art and Design in London. Her work has been selected for the Pastel Society Opens at Mall Galleries London in 2024 and 2025, and her paintings and drawings are held in private collections. She now lives and works in South Devon.
Education
BA Fine Art Painting, Central School of Art and Design, London, 1979 - 1982
One Year Professional Mentoring, Newlyn School of Art, Cornwall, 2017 - 2018
Group Exhibitions
The Pastel Society Open Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, 2025
Rapture, Velarde Gallery, Kingsbridge, Devon, 2024
The Pastel Society Open Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, 2024
Liminal Spaces, Birdwood Gallery, Totnes, Devon, 2022
Shared Spaces, Birdwood Gallery, Totnes, Devon, 2021
The Long and Short of It, Birdwood Gallery, Totnes, Devon, 2019
A Work of Art, The Biscuit Factory, London, 2019
Aquarium, PZ Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall, 2018
Newlyn School of Art Group Show, Chapel House, Penzance, Cornwall, 2018