Lilia Orlova-Holmes b. 1968

Lilia Orlova-Holmes is a Kent-based contemporary painter who draws from such masters as the impressionist Claude Monet and the colourist Henri Matisse.  She uses oil paint to depict a dreamy, poetic rendering of natural objects in which flowers, summer ponds, and bountiful garden bushes filled with pretty roses appear to dance around the linen canvas.  

By embracing her thoughts and connective memories, Orlova-Holmes uses free-flowing gestural mark-making to create paintings that invite the viewer into an immersive experience of waves of colouristic boldness; her brushstrokes, twirl and dip to form enigmatic, intuitive compositions that blur the distinction between form and line, fusing techniques associated with impressionism and Japanese calligraphy.  A feeling of spontaneous movement in her work celebrates the pleasures of painting as much as the pleasures of nature. Although these works are rooted in figuration, they are not representational or observational but are explorations of emotion sparked by the artist's quest for deeper meaning.

Orlova-Holmes studied at the Krasnopresnenskya School of Art and the Stroganov College of Applied Arts in Moscow.  She has had a number of solo exhibitions, including A Small Pan of Porridge at the Kings Street Gallery, London (1993), Fruit and Flower at the Chelsea Gallery, Chelsea Town Hall (2003), and Flowers at the Helpen Gallery, Kent (2021).  In addition, her work is in many private collections worldwide.