About

Louise French is a painter who is interested in the particular ways in which a thing exists or appears – its worth, uselessness, resonance and potential. Her work considers how form translated into new contexts in paint might present the ambiguity of ‘almost-recognition’.

Her painting draws on a range of sources (urban waste; archaeological, architectural, and domestic remnants; and fragments of text). Referencing past and future artefacts, it considers how we interpret everyday phenomena through memory and experience, and how objects anchor us to time. She sets parameters – limited palettes, working in series, found or bespoke supports – while also allowing intuitive mark-making. Through experimentation with materials and processes, her paintings explore colour and form.

Louise French (born Melbourne/traditional lands of the Kulin Nation) completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) at the National Art School, Australia, 2022. In March 2023 she joined Flax Art Studios’ (Belfast) Emerging Artist Programme where she maintains her studio, now working between Belfast and London.

French has held solo exhibitions in Northern Ireland, Threshold Gallery presents (Belfast, 2024), Part by Part, Ards Art Centre (Newtownards, 2024) and All in Colour, Shankill Library Gallery (Belfast, 2025). Her work has been shown in group exhibitions including at RuptureXIBIT (London), R-Space (Lisburn, Northern Ireland), Arcade Studios (Belfast) and Catalyst (Belfast). In 2025 she was granted Arts Council of Northern Ireland Project Funding for Individual Artists.