Films & Events

Hello

My name is Vanessa Brassey

I am a figurative painter and a philosopher working in acrylic inks and oils on canvas, glass and metal. I aim to depict my local world in a way that resists simple naturalism. Beguiling the viewer with landscapes and portraits that resonate with emotional complexity and possibility.

I paint and draw people, from life, from photographs, and from films. Recent paintings have been selected as a Finalist for BTA Art Prize 2024, British Contemporary Art (2024), Emerging Women in Art (2023), and long listed for The Royal Institute of Watercolour (2022), the Jackson Painting Prize (2022), and also exhibited in ING Discerning Eye Mall Galleries (2023 and 2024), and Unit 1 Gallery Workshop, Latimer Grove. I often exhibit 'The Swimmers' collection around Hampstead Heath. If you’re planning to see the blockbuster movie We Live in Time with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, look out for my painting Brisk & Early Morning Swim on Hampstead Heath (2023).

Painting, Portraits, & Philosophy

Hello - I’m a painter working across landscape, figuration and narrative, best known for scenes of wild swimmers, city wanderers, and places held in memory. Alongside my studio practice, I collaborate with major museums on public projects that explore how art shapes the way we think, feel, and connect. I also write and teach philosophy, with a special interest in time, perception, and the emotional life of pictures. Whether through painting, conversation or research, I’m always looking for ways to make space for reflection – and to share something of the wonder I find in the everyday.