Oxmarket Contemporary welcomes Michele Hope to the John Rank Gallery for her first solo exhibition with us. Michele Hope is a contemporary abstract artist based in Hertfordshire whose work is driven by a lifelong passion for colour, creativity, and emotional expression. From an early age, she demonstrated an instinctive creative spirit, finding inspiration in design, fashion, and the natural world.

Her professional creative career flourished in 1996 when she began a collaboration with the television shopping channel QVC, launching her own fashion brand, Michele Hope Clothing. As a designer, she created distinctive prints inspired by nature and her love of colour, becoming one of QVC UK's most successful and enduring fashion personalities. Over nearly three decades, she built a reputation for her vibrant designs and intuitive understanding of colour, working in the fast-paced world of fashion design.

After stepping away from fashion, Michele turned her creative energy towards painting, embracing abstract art as a deeply personal means of expression. Her paintings are inspired by significant life experiences, emotions, and memories, translating feeling into colour, movement, and form. Working intuitively and spontaneously, she allows each piece to evolve organically, guided by instinct rather than predetermined outcomes.

The natural landscape continues to be a profound source of inspiration. Time spent riding her horse through the Hertfordshire countryside informs her rich and expressive palette, with the changing colours of woodlands, meadows, and skies often finding their way into her work.

Michele works primarily with acrylic paint, carefully mixing her own bespoke colour combinations before applying them with a spatula and fluid pouring techniques. Through this process, she creates dynamic and emotionally resonant compositions that celebrate the transformative power of colour and the freedom of intuitive mark-making.