Sandra Wray - Biography

Sandra Wray is a Brazilian born artist, now living in Essex.  She trained as a ceramic artist at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa, where she graduated with full honours before moving to London.  She worked for many  years as a ceramic artist before moving onto painting. She found that painting gave her the ability to express herself in ways that ceramics never could. She found painting to be more immediate.  Her paintings speak for her, expressing her thoughts and emotions more vivid and deeply than any words could.

She draws her inspiration from  life. The past is a constant inspiration in her work and she revisits these sometimes forgotten memories until they fill the very essence that is her soul. From her earliest recollection there was never a time when she would rather do something other than express herself through drawing. She still recalls with vivid detail, of scribbling on the walls of their humble home in Venezuela at a  mere age of three. Paper was a rare commodity, and she would use whatever drawing medium  to draw on. These innocent events would not go unpunished, but still she would continue to draw and scribble on every surface she could find.

Although Sandra  has the ability to appreciate different art movements and the different ways people express themselves, she has always been more drawn to that which is left to the viewer, where his or her own emotion can be depicted from the painting. Gestural and abstraction, with or without figurative depictions, have captivated her since childhood. The reason for that might be the fact that when it comes to something as personal as creating something from nothing – from within yourself- she has very little patience for. She has to release an emotion in an instant before it escapes her. In essence, with every piece a little of her is left behind.

She enjoys captivating her viewers with her work, leaving them staring and searching for clues within themselves. Sandra believes that once she has released herself in her painting, her part is done, and it is up to the viewer to see what it is that they feel and see. Her paintings change, and is different to each individual viewer. This also depends on how one feels inside – constantly changing and drawing your attention to different aspects of the work - drawing you deeper within yourself. Each series of work is like an invisible bleed that flows through her, like an everlasting finger print imbedded in time. Expressing an emotion, or a thought, to be consumed and processed, or just ignored. She feels that she is in her painting. Watching people go by, not giving a second thought to others, not caring or respecting, just being there, waiting, watching...

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