Holly Frean

Holly Frean is an award-winning artist whose practice incorporates a range of mediums, from oil paintings on canvas to printmaking. Her imagination and versatility have recently led to coveted textile, ceramic and wallpaper collaborations with Burberry, Paul Smith and US clothing and retail brand Anthropologie.

Holly Frean began her formal training as an architect and draughtsman but painting portraits took over and she graduated in Fine Art/Painting at City & Guilds of London Art School in 2002. Her practice has since grown to include picture-making in all its forms, typically oil paintings on canvas and gouaches on paper, also printmaking and 3D work. Infused with wit and humour, Holly paints on unusual surfaces (cardboard squares, paper plates, wooden shapes). Her recent solo exhibition 'Who's Counting’ at Paul Smith’s flagship store in London’s Mayfair included paintings, mobiles and artists’ palettes cast in bronze.

Holly Frean first exhibited with Zimmer Stewart Gallery in 2006 and has since exhibited extensively in the UK, America and Europe.

In 2012 Frean was asked by Fabergé to decorate and donate a giant painted egg for The Big Egg Hunt, a charity auction which helped raise over £1m for Action For Children. Another of Holly’s eggs was later sold in support of the British Hen Welfare Trust.

Having developed a unique and technically accomplished style over the past decade, Holly Frean has work in many private, public and corporate collections. She has been commissioned by the Duchess of Northumberland, designer Betty Jackson CBE, Paul Smith CBE, Kit Kemp MBE, Alan Duncan MP, comedians Russell Howard, Ricky Gervais and Lee Evans, actor Russell Tovey, clothing retailer Johnnie Boden and Lord Mervyn of Abersoch.

Holly Frean has been the recipient of numerous accolades including the 2012 National Open Art Competition Painting Prize awarded by Grayson Perry (2012) and regularly shows at the RA Summer Exhibition.

Submitted by Zimmer Stewart Gallery