VICTORIA HEALD

About Victoria

Victoria Heald is a British artist who lives and works in West Sussex, painting and drawing figurative works and undertaking commissions. She studied Fine Art at Camberwell College of Art and Chelsea College of Art, London.

Victoria is best known for her figurative oil paintings on gold backgrounds. She is inspired by the use of gold in Art History to highlight the importance of the subject depicted. She often paints animals and figures in oil paints or watercolours, using traditional techniques and a vibrant colour palette.

Victoria has exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London in 2023 & 2024. She donated two artworks to the 10th anniversary of the Art On A Postcard (AOAP) International Women’s Day Auction 2024. In the same year, she was a finalist in the Art Gemini Prize at Zari Gallery in Fitzrovia, London and received a Special Commendation at the Guildford House Open, Surrey. Her artworks have also been exhibited at Oxmarket Contemporary gallery in Chichester, West Sussex.

Victoria was invited by art critic Tabish Khan to exhibit in the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition in 2020. She was selected for the Society of Women Artists’ Annual Exhibition in 2019 & 2020 and was Artist in Residence at the luxury Bankside Hotel in Central London.

After graduating from Chelsea Art College she exhibited in the group show London’s Calling, at the Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art (OCCCA), USA.

Her artwork features in Private Collections in the UK and USA. (Victoria's CV)

Artist’s Statement

My practice is predominantly focused in figurative oil painting, with a particular emphasis on the use of gold as a background. I draw inspiration from the historical significance of gold in art, as a means of highlighting something which is divine, transcendent, or miraculous. By using gold as the backdrop to my paintings, I aim to communicate the importance of the subjects I portray by placing them on a universally recognised and cherished metal.

Recently, I have also begun using watercolours on paper to create vibrant and eye-catching paintings, highlighting the beauty found in the natural world.