Clare Hawkes

A Fine Art Graduate of AUB, Clare is a contemporary Expressionist painter: working with oils and depending heavily on use of colour and gesture. Her work is at the border of figurative and abstract: blurring the figure to express the overlooked and invisible elements in life, art, and society. Inspiration can come from classical works - how these can be revisited in the light of changing values about the world of artists themselves, as well as their subjects. Ideas are frequently drawn from other cultural references: e.g.art history, cinema, literature and music. Key influences include the legacy of painters at the centre of modernist and expressionist painting development, including Cezanne, Soutine, DeKooning, Joan Mitchell, Richard Diebenkorn, Paul Wonner, David Park and the Bay Area Expressionist Movement. How paint itself creates marks, layers and texture often tipping in favour of chance over control, underpins Clare’s treatment of figures and their relationship with the environment and landscape. In 2025 she exhibited at The Sherborne Art Centre, The Fine Foundation Gallery at Durlston Castle, Swanage, and had work selected for the South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts Open. In 2026 she had work shortlisted for the NEAC Open at Mall Galleries.