Ned Campbell
One reason I paint is to figure something out. Sometimes I start by setting myself a formal problem to solve; sometimes I just paint what I see. Regardless of how I start, over time I see the qualities my paintings share.
They often combine flat graphic shapes with splashy, loose marks and fully rendered areas. Some make explicit the underlying geometry of a composition – its artificiality – others find subtle ways to draw it out. It’s a search for a natural organisation, a ‘rightness’, in the feeling of an image.
This formal investigation is balanced by my attempt to make an emotional connection with the subject – the rational and structured merged with the subjective and imaginative. It’s two ideas at once: knocking Neoclassicism and Romanticism together to see what comes out.
Biography
Ned studied at Yale University School of Art. His early career in editorial design and publishing in the United States expanded to a role in the United Kingdom as a creative director at Wolff Olins in London, and his subsequent work as a brand consultant to many arts and culture organisations. He has always been a painter.
He was a visiting professor of design at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA for two years, and has lectured at University for the Creative Arts, Rochester, and Yale. While at Wolff Olins he was invited by The British Council to lead an co-creative seminar on Branding Kenya for business, academic, cultural and government leaders in Nairobi. For ten years Ned was a trustee of Westminster Opera Co., mentoring emerging theatre designers. He was chosen as a lead designer for the Sorrell Foundation’s Joined-up Design For Schools programme in Sheffield, UK.
Ned’s work is in private collections in Europe and the USA. His most recent solo exhibition was a series of portraits in 2022, Listening Paintings. In addition to his studio practice he has painted with the English artist Maggi Hambling's masterclass since 2019, and was selected for the 2024 show celebrating her 50 years of teaching. Most recently, Ned was invited as an artist-in-residence at Spacehouse Himalayas, India.