Oscar Grasby
Details
How would you describe the work you do and why?
My practice varies in style and application, however I refer consistently to both inherited and personal images; of family, place, friends and also film and artwork. In my large-scale works, these images are deconstructed, drawn together and reimagined. The work is carefully composed, planned out, and built slowly in layers from big shapes to small. More recently, I have been working alongside this approach with smaller paintings that abandon pre-structure, prioritising speed, material response and playfulness. I test what happens when the image and meaning is discovered rather than pre-composed, allowing the image to shift and evolve from one session to the next. Prioritising immediacy, ambiguity and the physical behaviour of paint acts as a counterbalance to the larger works and a way of opening new possibilities within the practice. Across both approaches, painting operates as a site of testing where personal memory, collective imagery, and material process intersect to explore meaning.
For you what does being an artist mean?:
For me, artistry is about translation. It's about observing, interpreting, and then expressing an idea. It's a constant exploration of new ideas or reframing of old ones
Describe what you call yourself/your practice?:
Figurative oil painter
Your practice & activities include e.g workshops, teaching:
I work intermittently at Hereford Sixth Form
College running painting workshops.
CV & Education, relevant & leading to your artistic practice:
Education
MA Painting (Distinction), Manchester Metropolitan University, 2024
BA Fine Art (First Class), Manchester Metropolitan University, 2023
Selected Awards & Exhibitions
John Moores Painting Prize Exhibition 2025
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition – Second Round Judging, 2025
Howarth Charitable Trust Painters Discovery Scholarship, 2023–24
HOME Gallery Open Exhibition, 2024
MAFA ‘Connections’, Stockport War Memorial Gallery, 2024
MAFA Sculpture Award, 2023
Work Experience
Glazier, Jim Budd Stained Glass, 2025–Present
Studio Technician, Emma Telford Textile Conservation Ltd, 2019–2025
Cover Artist, Shogun Audio, 2021-22
Exhibitions in the last 3 years:
John Moores Painting Prize Exhibition 2025
HOME Gallery Open Exhibition, 2024
MAFA ‘Connections’, Stockport War Memorial Gallery, 2024