Abstract artist Luke Frost (b. 1976) focuses on precise compositions that explore relationships between colour and space, examining how viewers perceive and experience these interactions. Through layered areas of varying intensity disrupted by contrasting or resonating “volts,” Frost investigates the pictorial and perceptual possibilities of colour. He studied at Falmouth College of Art (1994-1995) and Bath Spa University College (1998).
In 2009, Frost was the sixth artist to emerge from the Tate St Ives Artist Residency at Porthmeor Studios, St Ives. A solo exhibition of Frost’s work ‘Paintings in Five Dimensions’ was shown at Tate St Ives in 2009. Notable exhibitions include ‘Maryland Art Place’ Baltimore USA, ‘Yale Center for British Art’ USA, Jersey Arts Centre, ‘Art Now Cornwall’ Tate St Ives and Newlyn Art Gallery.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
My work deals primarily with colour relationships in precise compositions that question the viewer’s awareness of colour and space. I'm interested in exploring the pictorial possibilities and perceptions of colour in strictly formal arrangements. Areas of layered colour, each visible in varying intensity are interrupted by stripes of contrasting or resonating colour – which I refer to as ‘volts’. These visually interact with the built up background hues, drawing attention to subtle modulations and contrasts and enriching the viewer’s experience of colour.
CV:
1976 Born Penzance, Cornwall
1995 – 1998 BA (HONS) Fine Art, Bath
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 Jersey Arts Centre, Jersey
2015 ‘The Picture Room’, Newlyn Art Gallery
2013 ‘Volts’, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives
‘The Picture Room’, Newlyn Art Gallery
2010 Beaux Arts London
2009 ‘Paintings in five dimensions’, Tate St Ives
2006 The Somerville Gallery, Plymouth
2003 Badcocks Gallery, Newlyn
The Somerville Gallery, Plymouth
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 'Small Is Beautiful', Flowers Gallery, London
'Falmouth Painting Platform', Falmouth University
'St Ives Revisited', Beaux Arts London
2024 'A skin made porous', Anima Mundi Gallery, St Ives
'Summer Show', Belgrave gallery, St Ives
2023 'Wheel of the year', Anima Mundi Gallery, St Ives
'Winter Show', Belgrave gallery, St Ives
2022 'Contemporary Painters', Belgrave Gallery, StIves
'Summer Show' Beaux Arts London
'Samhain',Anima Mundi Gallery, St Ives
2021 'Colour – Sound', Beaux Arts London
2020 'Slow Burn', The Auxiliary Gallery, Middlesbrough
'Biennale of International Reductive and Non Objective Art, The Stores Building, Sydney, Australia
2019 'Gifts and Acquisitions', Yale Center for British Art, USA
'Summer Show', Beaux Arts London
‘Summer Show’, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives
2018 'Inheritance of Colour', Beaux Arts London
'Structures', Newlyn Art Gallery
2017 'Gallery Artists', Beaux Arts London
'Summer Show', Beaux Arts London
2016 'The Pattern Reveals Itself', Claudia Weil Galerie, Friedberg, Germany
'Restructured', Newlyn Art Gallery and the Exchange
‘Summer Show’, Beaux Arts London
‘Kith and Kin’, Falmouth Art Gallery
‘Newlyn School of Art Tutors Exhibition’, Newlyn Art Gallery
2015 ‘Summer show’, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives
‘Winter print show’, The Exchange, Penzance
‘Summer Show’, Beaux Arts London
2014 ‘Colour Volts’, (Two person), Beaux Arts London
‘Summer Exhibition’, Beaux Arts London
‘Summer Show’, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives
2013 'Significant Others II', Advanced Graphics, London
‘Summer Exhibition’, Beaux Arts London
2012 ‘Summer Show’, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives
Motorcade/FlashParade National Open 2012, Bristol
2011 ‘The Picture Room’, Newlyn Art Gallery
‘Axis, Aspects of British abstract painting’, Belgrave Gallery, St Ives
‘Painting in parts’, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, USA
2008 ‘The Colour Show’, Hilton-Young Gallery, Penzance
2007 ‘Art Now Cornwall’, Tate St Ives
‘Revolver’; PZ Gallery, Penzance
2005 The Somerville Gallery, Plymouth
2004 Spectrum Gallery, (Two person), London
2003 ‘XPOSURE’; Gallery Space, Penzance
2002 Wiseman Originals, London
The City Gallery, London
2001 Belgrave Gallery, St Ives
2000 ‘Iconoclast’, Falmouth Arts Centre
1998 The Rainyday Gallery, Penzance
COLLECTIONS
The Bank of America
University of Warwick Art Collection
Falmouth Art Gallery
Yale Center for British Art, USA
RESIDENCIES
2018 'Structures', Newlyn Art Gallery and the Exchange
2016 'Restructured', Newlyn Art Gallery and the Exchange
2008-09 Tate St Ives Artist in Residence at Porthmeor Studios
INTERVIEWS AND PUBLICATIONS
'The Geometry of Beauty: The Not Very British Art of Six British Artists' by James Bartos, Unicorn Publishing, 2019
'Fifty Years of The University of Warwick Art Collection', published by The University of Warwick, 2015
Review; ‘Icons and minimalists’. Dynamic exhibits at Maryland Art Place’. By Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun, 2011
‘Painting in Parts’; exhibition catalogue with essay by Michael Klein, published by Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, USA, 2011
‘Interviews – Artists, Volume Two recordings, 2010’; Nicholas James, published by CV/Visual Arts Research Editions, 2010
‘Luke Frost - Paintings’; exhibition catalogue published by Beaux Arts London with essay by Tony Godfrey, 2010
‘Luke Frost, Paintings in five dimensions’; exhibition catalogue published by Tate St Ives with essays by Matthew Collings, Tony Godfrey, Martin Clark and Sara Hughes, 2009
Review; ‘Luke Frost, Painting in Five Dimensions at Tate St Ives’ by Emmanuel Cooper, Tribune magazine, 2009
Exhibition article; Galleries magazine, 2009
Review; John Jones ‘Art Huddle’ by Andy Wicks, 2009
Cornwall Today Magazine; article by Alex Wade, 2009
‘St Ives revisited’; short film interview by Peter Davies and Geoffrey Robinson, 2008
‘Tate St Ives and the history of the Porthmeor Studios’; short film, Tate St Ives 2008
Inside Cornwall Magazine, 2008
‘St Ives Art 1975 - 2005 Art Colony in Transition’; Peter Davies, published St Ives Printing & Publishing Co 2007
‘Art Now Cornwall’; exhibition catalogue published by Tate St Ives with essay by Susan Daniel McElroy, 2007
‘Luke Frost - Paintings’; exhibition catalogue published by The Somerville Gallery with essay by Peter Davies, 2006
‘Artist of the month’; Guardian.co.uk, 2004