Lindsay Mapes

Lindsay believes her path to becoming an artist was set in stone from a very young age. It was always there, in her bones.

An interview with Lindsay

She was born in Arizona and then moved through the Bible Belt of America. Living in Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas City and San Francisco. Lindsay grew up being heavily influenced by strong, passionate female artists, such as Georgia O’Keeffe, Joan Mitchell and Frida Kahlo. She recalls her father, who was a photographer telling her that she wanted to be an artist and specifically a painter, which is very true, as far as she can remember, she loved paint as a medium. Although, she has branched out a bit, here and there with photography and sculpture, she always return to the brush and paint. It's a medium that continually amazes her, through triumphs or disasters, it's an unconditional love for her.

Originally from the USA, Lindsay studied Painting at San Francisco Art Institute (1996–2000) and Studio Arts Centre International, Florence (2006–07). She then went on to study for her MFA Painting at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London (2008–10). Since then she has been based in London and Italy.

Mapes’ art explores themes of erasure, obfuscation, obstruction, and secrecy in a series of boldly-coloured paintings and drawings. Colour and pattern play a significant role in Mapes’ paintings. The relationship between colour and the feelings that certain colours and colour combinations evoke is always at the forefront of her work. Through an extended editing process in which layers of form, line, and colour are built up, scraped away, revealed, and hidden, the artist draws upon the concept of the pentimento (from the Italian pentirsi, to repent), which, in painting, refers to an alteration evidenced by traces of the artist’s previous mark-marking, revealing the changes made during the painting process. In this way, Mapes examines how a thought process can be realized in paint.

Sort by