Caroline Banks is An Anglo-French artist now based in London after living in Asia for several years.
After graduating in Mixed Media Textiles from Loughborough University, she had a career first as an artist for 10 years then in design for both fashion and interiors. She moved to India in 2001 working there, in China and Vietnam before returning to the UK at the end of 2007. 2014 saw the return to exhibiting and she is now fully focussed on her art career.
Banks works with galleries, art consultancies and directly with collectors. She has exhibited at art fairs including The Other Art Fair both in the UK and the USA and the Affordable Art Fair Battersea. Much of her work is commissioned by both private individuals and corporations including Claridge’s and Berkeley Homes.
She publishes a weekly blog through her website and is on the advisory committee of international artists’ network ArtCan.
Artworks range in size from 15 x 10cm upwards with all dimensions given on the Gallery and Index pages.
In an ever-changing and uncertain world, energy is the only thing that lives forever.
The transference from one form of energy to another is part of the eternal cycle of life, death and rebirth. This circularity is a key aspect of my practice, reflecting on the passing of time, connection and confirmation of our place in the world.
Action and stillness, the elasticity of time, these elements are in conversation as part of my process. The resulting paintings, installations and even body drawings, whilst dynamic, are also contemplative, a form of meditation meriting slow and repeated viewing.
My practice is firmly grounded in observational drawing which develops into abstraction. Calligraphic mark-making becomes a personal vocabulary of gesture and memory.
Influences are drawn from diverse sources including astronomy, quantum mechanics, music, performance and archaeology. Everything is connected in some way to everything else.
My tools are hand-made brushes combined mainly with wet media: gesso, ink, paint and and sometimes metal leaf gilding in a process that develops over time.
As in life, chance and working on the edge of control play their part. Perfection is unattainable and undesired.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 Affordable Art Fair Battersea, London
2022
ING The Discerning Eye, London Affordable Art Fair Battersea, London Legacy, Crypt Gallery, London Kroll Paris, New York & London
2021 The Other Art Fair, London
2020
The Affordable Art Fair, London
The V-Art Show (online April, May & June)
2019
The Other Art Fair Brooklyn, New York
Elevate, London
New Horizons, London
2018
The Other Art Fair Brooklyn, New York
From ArtCan With Love, London
44 Hallam Street, London
The Other Art Fair, Victoria House, London
Square Peg. Circle Gallery, Sheffield
2017
What is The Point? Camden Image Gallery, London
The Other Art Fair, Bristol
44 Hallam Street, London
Appearances of…A&D Gallery, London
The Other Art Fair – Victoria House, London
2016
The Other Art Fair – Truman Brewery, London
Twitter Art Exhibit, Trygve Lie Gallery – New York
Group show – Luminaire Arts, London
2015
ThirtyforThirty – National Theatre, London
2014
The London Collective – Luminaire Arts, London
Fiumano Fine Art Summer Exhibition, London
Affordable Art Fair Battersea, London
Fiumano Fine Art Spring Exhibition, London
1980s – 90s
1991 Prisma Artists – Imperial College, London; Take Five – Star Gallery, Lewes, East Sussex
1989 Women’s Eye – Highgate, London; Greenwich show – London
1988 Bodies – Old Bull Arts Centre – Barnet, London; London Contemporary Art – Lots Road, London; Arthouse Cash & Carry – Battersea, London
1986 Blowing in the Wind – Aspects Gallery, Whitfield St. London; Off The wall – Alfred East Gallery, Kettering
1985 Rufford Crafts Centre, Rufford Country Park, Nottinghamshire; Aspects Gallery, Whitfield St, London; Cirencester Workshops, Gloucestershire
1984 Textile Art – Atlantic Road Gallery, Brixton, London
1983 Textile work from Loughborough College of Art & Design – Qantas Gallery, Piccadilly, London; Women & Textiles: their lives and their work – Battersea Arts Centre, London
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2021 Pringle x Caroline Banks, Mayfair, London.
1987 Plastics – East Midland Arts touring show
1986 Male Bodybuilders – Nottingham; Bodybuilders – Heaven Nightclub, London
Work in private collections in the UK, France, USA, Africa, South America and India
Public Commissions
2018 11 large paintings for Berkeley Homes development in London
1989 Banner for Nottingham City Festival
1985 Hanging for Southampton City Hospital
1982 Installation for Monarch Knitting Machinery Ltd. Beaumont Leys, Nottingham
Publications
2015 ThirtyforThirty – Buro4 anniversary publication
1991 The Art & Craft of Appliqué – Juliet Bawden
Education
1982 BA Honours degree (First) in Mixed Media Textiles from Loughborough College of Art & Design (now Loughborough University).
Associations
I am actively involved in ArtCan, which supports and enables artists to sustain their practice.
Find out more
Find me on social media to see recent examples of my work.
My weekly blog celebrates art and creativity in many forms.
