VICTORIA HEALD

About Victoria

Victoria Heald (b.1989) is a British artist who studied at Camberwell College of Art and Chelsea College of Art, London. She lives and works in West Sussex, painting and drawing figurative works and undertaking commissions.

Victoria is best known for her figurative oil paintings on gold backgrounds, inspired by the use of gold in art history to convey and highlight the importance of the subject matter depicted. She paints a variety of subjects including animals and figures using traditional oil painting techniques and a vibrant colour palette.

This year, Victoria was selected for the second year in a row to exhibit in the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London. Her artworks were exhibited at Oxmarket Contemporary gallery in Chichester, West Sussex. She also donated two artworks to the 10th anniversary of the Art On A Postcard (AOAP) International Women’s Day Auction 2024.

In 2023, she exhibited in the Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) Bicentennial Exhibition, was a finalist in the Art Gemini Prize at Zari Gallery in Fitzrovia and received a Special Commendation at the Guildford House Open, Surrey.

In 2020, Victoria was invited by art critic Tabish Khan to exhibit in the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition. She was selected for the Society of Women Artists’ Annual Exhibition in 2019 & 2020. In 2019, she was also chosen to be Contemporary Collective’s Artist-In-Residence at the luxury Bankside Hotel in Central London and spoke on a panel there about women in the arts for International Women’s Day.

After graduating from Chelsea Art College she was invited to exhibit 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.