Ania Hobson’s vibrant oil paintings reimagine portraiture through thick impasto, exaggerated features and dynamic compositions. Influenced by artists such as Alice Neel, Kerry James Marshall, Paula Rego and Otto Dix, her figures combine intimacy with monumentality. As evidenced in She Brought Me to Myself, Hobson often portrays her figures from a strategic vantage point. Viewed from on high or from below, her subjects are strong and self-possessed, their expressions enigmatic and contemplative.

 

Hobson’s distinctive style merges personal experiences with subconscious influences, abstracting her figures to prioritise emotion and expression over anatomical accuracy. Layered narratives and ambiguous backdrops invite interpretation, drawing viewers into the inner worlds of her subjects. By exploring the psychology of human emotion, Hobson offers a contemporary perspective on the evolving role of portraiture.

 

Ania Hobson (b. 1990, Suffolk, UK; lives and works between Suffolk and London, UK) graduated from the University of Suffolk before continuing her studies at the Royal Drawing School, London and the Florence Academy of Art. In 2017, she was awarded the Young Artist Award of the BP Portrait Awards, granted by the National Portrait Gallery in London. The artist has participated in the PLOP Residency, London (2021) and The Fores Project Residency, London (2020). Recent exhibitions include: ‘Present Tense’, Hauser & Wirth Somerset (2024); ‘Deep-rooted’, SETAREH, Berlin (2023, solo); Ruttkowski 68, Paris (2022, solo); ‘Playing with Fire’, Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2022, solo); ‘Once upon a time in Mayfair’, Phillips London (2022); ‘The Artist is Present’, Guts Gallery, London (2022); ‘New Romantics’, Lee Eugean Gallery, Seoul (2022); and ‘Women Painting Women’, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas (2022).