Pamela Kenny-Levick

My first contact with art took place in the Fine Arts school (Ecole des Beaux Arts) in Rennes. As my work as an actress took up a lot of my time, I enrolled for some evening classes. Whilst I was developing my company called E for English, which helps people develop their oral skills in English, I was also learning about art. Although very professional, the art classes in the school had a very intellectual and traditional approach to art. I felt very early on that this approach was not for me. I have always wanted to break a few rules to be able to stand out and still continue to want this today. I am constantly inventing new rules and as soon as they are in place, I break them and move on. You can see this in my work. If you take a look at my earlier work, you can recognise the style and in my most recent paintings, you can see it evolving.

When I moved from Brittany to Lyon, I enrolled on a two years art course in Neuville-sur-Saône under the tutorial of Francoise Monnier, who graduated at Stanford University in the US. Here I was free to develop my style.

I have learnt an incredible amount by looking at other artists work, sharing with them, watching tutorials on social media, visiting art galleries, museums, but most of all by trial and error.

I want my paintings to make people smile and feel the optimism even though my subjects and messages are sometimes sombre.

I paint onto large surfaces using acrylic paint and vibrant colours. I get my colour inspiration from Yayoi Kusama’s work. 

I create my pieces with many different layers. I build up the layers of clean colour, leaving glimpses of what went down before, then I progress with one main thought in mind:  what do I leave on the canvas?  

My use of spray paint, acrylic pens and stencils add an urban contemporary look to my work. The subjects of my paintings have been world preoccupations for a number of years but are very much present today in 2020. Their political and social messages show what a brutal world we live in but give an optimistic edge through my use of colour.

In order to be distinctive, I do not follow a set pattern or rules but am spontaneous and paint with my “gut”. This makes painting painful as it sometimes doesn’t work but when it does, the feeling is amazing!

My main subject is a series of portraits of women. I feel very strongly about the impact women have on the world. I am not a so called feminist but feel that the world is too one sided: white middle class males must let go a little and give us more of a chance to have our voices heard. I am preparing series of portraits of women who fight for the right for girls all over the world to have free access to education.

I have also been working on a “no food waste” campaign with a number of Hilton hotels around the world as well as developing my paintings for a plastic free planet.

I am currently working on a series of portraits of angels inspired by the “greats” such as Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphaël, taking conventional poses and drawings and giving them an urban, graffiti vibe… breaking the rules again!!!!