In her paintings Vivien Blackett explores the seen and unseen, questioning the nature of appearance and our experience of the world through her depictions of 'landscape’. Her current cast of ‘characters’ exist in a place between the perimeters of abstraction and figuration, human and animal, landscape and the body. Brightly patterned rocky peaks jostle for our attention in front of dappled pools and swirling streams. Succulent-like branching forms rise up to claim their place. There is a gentle humour too as peaks develop legs that animate the scenery. Blackett draws inspiration from Early Renaissance painting, medieval manuscripts and natural patterns from disparate sources including histology, cytology and geology. Her drawings are an important and playful part of her research for the paintings and provide an opportunity to experiment with colour, connections, scale, illusion and meaning. One is reminded of paper theatre sets where individual cut-out elements can be swapped and interchanged in a compressed pictorial space.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivien_Blackett
Lives and works in London
CURRENT
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize exhibition
Touring and opening at Williamson Art Gallery and Museum,
Birkenhead on 14 November 2025 - 31 January 2026
EDUCATION Goldsmiths College, London, 1974-1978
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Peaks branching, Ken Art Space, London 2025
Salisbury Arts Centre, 2010
London College of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 2003
Michael West Gallery, Quay Arts, Isle of Wight, 2001/2
Adam Gallery, London, 1997
Southern Arts Touring Exhibition, 1993/4
Flaxman Gallery, Stoke on Trent, 1988
The National Gallery Residency exhibition, London, 1987
Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, 1987
Spitalfields Health Centre, organised by Whitechapel Gallery, 1985
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, London 2025
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2024
Mixed Marvels, Ken Artspace, London 2023
Artsdepot Open, London, 2012
Open Drawing, Salisbury Arts Centre, 2009
ARTfutures, Contemporary Art Society, London, 1998
From the Interior, touring to Hull, Kingston, Oldham, Derby, Brighton, Bath, Aberystwyth, 1997/8
Whitechapel Open, Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1998/89/88/87/86/85/84
Cries and Whispers, British Council Touring Exhibition, New Zealand and USA, 1988/93
Art for Everywhere, Peterborough City Art Gallery, 1993/92/90/89
Primarily Colour, Whitechapel Gallery and SHAPE, London,1990
Eighty to Ninety, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, 1990
The Art Machine, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow, 1990
Unheard Music, Stoke City Museum and Art Gallery, 1986
Pace Setters 5, Peterborough City Art Gallery, 1985
RESIDENCIES
Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, 1993
Camden Arts Centre, London, 1992
The National Gallery, London, 1986/7
Mulberry School, organised by Whitechapel Gallery and Public Arts Development Trust, 1985/6
COLLECTIONS
London Hospital
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Peterborough City Art Gallery
Isle of Wight AHA
The National Gallery
The British Council
Healthcare Arts Trust
Stanhope Properties
Leicestershire Collection
Arthur Andersen & Co Collection
Coopers & Lybrand
New Hall, Cambridge University
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
Colchester General Hospital
COMMISSIONS AND EDUCATION WORK
Colchester General Hospital commission,1998
Birmingham City Council Library commission, organised by Public Art Commissions Agency, 1991
Stanhope Properties commission organised by PADT, 1988
London Hospital Department of Child Dental Health, Whitechapel Art Gallery and PADT1985/6
Visiting Lecturer (from 1986): Staffordshire University, Stoke-Trent, Birmingham Polytechnic, Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, Coventry Polytechnic, Gloucestershire College of Art and Technology, Brighton Polytechnic, Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham, Canterbury College of Art, Winchester School of Art, Camberwell School of Art and Design, Ruskin School of Art, Oxford
Gallery Education (1984-1999): Whitechapel Gallery London, Camden Arts Centre London, London Borough of Hackney, London Institute, Southern Arts Touring, Warsaw Academy with Artlink, National Portrait Gallery London, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, Peterborough City Art Gallery