The Exchange: Gabriella Boyd and Francesca Mollett

Gabriella Boyd and Francesca Mollett have a shared obsession with light. While the former infuses loosely figurative scenes with powerful luminescence, the latter evokes the slippery qualities of reflection and refraction, through expressive abstraction. This pair of painters have been longtime studio neighbours, first in Woolwich, and now in Bermondsey. As Mollett unpacks her new space (she moved in only 24 hours previous) these friends sat down to discuss community, perspective and a shared love of water.

Gabriella Boyd: We have been neighbours for quite a while now. I remember telling you that a new space had become vacant on my floor when we were both at Thames-Side Studios in Woolwich. You were smart enough to take that on and keep your old studio downstairs too. I recall thinking, “wow, why didn’t I do that?”

Francesca Mollett: I’m so glad I did! I didn’t want to lose my ideal setup, but it was also amazing to have a space in the ‘painting corridor’, where there was such a great sense of community, with like-minded artists.

GB: Community is so important when you’re working in the studio. Painting is such a solitary thing. You can hunker down for months, but you need to have that choice to be sociable, where there will always be someone you can go to the caff with or borrow supplies from.

FM: Or to get eyes on a painting. I guess that’s how we became friends. It all started when you invited me in to see the finished work for your show with Micki Meng [in 2022]. It was around midnight and I was about to go home, but you asked me over and I felt totally exhilarated. It was all so luminous; every painting was glowing.

GB: It’s amazing to be able to leave your own universe and see someone else doing an entirely different thing. It can be really helpful to get out of your head.

FM: When you’re looking at someone else’s work it takes time to learn their language…

GB: To understand the parameters and logic within their practice, that is when you can start to be helpful.

FM: If you disagree with someone’s advice, that can be useful too because you become aware of what you need to change. I remember when you told me, “That painting is finished”. I had a habit of working on a piece for a particular amount of time, and you shook me out of it.

GB: Seeing things from another perspective is so important. If you’re working on a painting for six months you stop thinking about whether something looks like, say, the back of a head. You can ask someone that obvious question.

FM: Moving to a different space is also valuable. Being on the Roberts Institute of Art residency in Scotland this October was so enjoyable because rather than it being a process of gathering and then returning home, it was a constant play between looking and painting. The darkness is intense out there. The moonlight is so bright that you can use it as a torch, so the walk from the studio to the accommodation feels entirely grayscale.

GB: I’m so glad to have more space in this new studio in Tannery Arts, but I was very attached to the light in Thames Side, as well as being by the river. It was so calming knowing that this big body of water was ever-present. I remember visiting your show at Grimm in Amsterdam, right on the canal. The reflected light was dancing on the ceiling above your paintings. It felt so much a part of the show. It was pretty magical.

FM: I visited the space ahead of time and the city informed my ideas. I noticed that so many doors were covered in glossy black paint, which worked like water within the architecture. In the gallery the light changes throughout the day too, so when it fully hit the paintings, the texture suddenly appeared more emphasised.

GB: All of the works in ‘Landing’ (at Grimm London until 22nd December) are wedded to the experience of living in a city. The stories and emotions and images you hold in your mind while you hurtle across London – it’s a very particular state. There are so many different light sources too, and I like to see how that can play out in a painting. I might use an unprimed canvas to absorb light, then use other ways to emit it in another work. I want to bring that urban context into my show at Cample Line (in Nithsdale, Scotland, 23rd March – 2nd June) next year. It’s an extremely rural setting.

FM: I’ve been looking at iridescence, how this form of light can conceal and reveal. I want to capture a sense of camouflage, but I’m just starting on that.

GB: I remember when we visited the Vermeer show in Amsterdam. I was amazed by his use of light and how alive his paintings felt. There were so many little gifts, like the simple rhythm within a sleeve.

FM: I saw one man using binoculars, to take in every tiny detail, gradually moving back and forth. It was all so slow. What a great way to enjoy a painting!