Amanda Houchen is a contemporary oil painter living in London.

Her work explores the line between fantasy and reality, through the depiction of performance and show – whether it is through circus, cabaret or people putting on a mask to society. These re-constructed scenes are on the cusp of a dream world, where although sometimes familiar, things don’t make complete sense and there is the feeling of the uncanny.

This strange and compelling atmosphere is created by a sense of illusion and …

Amanda Houchen is a contemporary oil painter living in London.

Her work explores the line between fantasy and reality, through the depiction of performance and show – whether it is through circus, cabaret or people putting on a mask to society. These re-constructed scenes are on the cusp of a dream world, where although sometimes familiar, things don’t make complete sense and there is the feeling of the uncanny.

This strange and compelling atmosphere is created by a sense of illusion and depth – through artificial lighting, gestural brushstrokes, off kilter angles and contrived, geometric shape and line. Here the characters’ theatrical appearance and costume is also key to constructing the fantastical environment, becoming almost a prop within it.

These paintings elude being identified with any particular place and time, so preserving a sense of oddity and intrigue. The viewer is left in the position of a voyeur, not knowing what to make of the ambiguous scene.