Exhibitions

Sally began painting during lockdown in 2020, after a 30-year gap. She completed a foundation course at Bradford College of Art, and a degree in textile design at Nottingham Trent University in the 1980s before hiding out in the HR departments of various universities. She quit her day job in 2021 and began to paint full-time. Her first solo exhibition consists of two central themes; “Still Lives” colourfully re-invents the traditional art form, whilst “Influencers” studies female identity through the often distorted lens of social media.

“In 2020, the Influencers floated onto my lockdown horizon from their yachts and inflatables in perpetually sunny Dubai. Why do you keep painting these women, people ask me? What’s it all about? Who are they? Are they cover girls? Well, cover up girls maybe! Influencers are nobodies who become somebodies through their social media posts on a particular topic. Many young women pay close attention to their views and copy their poses, some of which verge on pornographic. Is this really emancipated sexuality? Is this beauty? Is this powerful individualism? Is this femininity?

Everything is hyped up. Intricately painted false nails, huge stick-on lashes, arched brows and outlined eyes, super lustrous lipstick and that’s just for going to the Coop. For proms, parties, work events, think ‘The Oscars’. Sadly, these billions of pixels of lush eyebrows are unlikely to be excelling any time soon. If you join the Hollywood starlet tribe then you’re made. Yes, I am painting them. Yes, I am observing them and I am not judging. I am looking most of all into a mirror of life right now as it really is and of course I am also seeing the humour”.

- Sally Driver, 2022

Art in the time of COVID