Play and exploration are central in Vigne Welsh’s approach to making paintings. This is underpinned by a questioning of her instinctual gesture and a material-led process. She challenges the limits of mark making and materials to build space and investigate the emotional and physical experience of her environment. Influenced by the Supports/Surfaces movement, wabi sabi and remix culture, as well as her own personal history, she thinks of painting as a safety net for trying out new ideas. What possibilities can be realised within the inherent constraints of the surface?

Her studio practice is deeply personal yet also serves as a platform to challenge entrenched hierarchical value systems, achieved through the deconstruction and reconfiguration of elements both within the canvas and site specific spaces. She employs non-traditional application methods to subvert conventional norms, offering a subtle critique of art history and institutional frameworks. Through rigorous improvisation the surface is activated, kept open and alive with fierce intention.

Vigne Welsh grew up in rural Ireland moving between the Wicklow Mountains and the Irish Sea, and the tension between the vastness of the coastal landscape and the quiet density of the rural terrain continues to influence her sensitivity to space, rhythm and atmosphere in painting. She is currently based in Co. Wicklow. Prior to this, she lived and worked in London, Lisbon and Los Angeles. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in September 2024 with an MA in Painting, completed the Turps Bananas Correspondence Course in 2023 and earned her BFA from the National College of Art & Design, Dublin, in 2016.

Upon graduating from the RCA Vigne Welsh was the recipient of the prestigious Clyde Hopkins Award, which provided a studio and mentorship at APT Studios in Deptford, London from 2024 - June 2025. Her recent exhibitions include a two-person show at APT Gallery Sight-read and group exhibitions with Huxley Parlour Gallery and Sketchbook London. Her work has been commissioned by notable brands such as Guinness, Roe & Co. Whiskey, and Hen’s Teeth.