Molly Padbury has recently completed her bachelor’s degree in Fine Art at the University of Hertfordshire with a first-class qualification. Prior to this, she attended the City of Oxford College to undertake a foundation degree in Art and Design which, in turn, allowed her to continue into further education. During her time studying, Padbury has been able to participate in several collaborative exhibitions, including City of Oxford College Student Exhibition at Magdalen Road Studios in 2019; the online exhibition Locked In: Life in a Pandemic with her fellow students at the University of Hertfordshire in 2020; Unpacked at Courtyard Arts in 2021, and the UH degree show in May 2022.

 

Inspired by musician and performance artist Laurie Anderson, Padbury’s dissertation explored the boundaries between the ideas within performance and narrative in contemporary art and his hoping to publish later this year. Although she is not a performance artist herself, Padbury identifies similar attitudes towards her work as Anderson through these themes of narrative as well as exploring her immediate surroundings or elements of her childhood and nostalgic connection.

Much of her work blurs the lines between the ordinary and absurd, taking objects from the everyday and warping their reality into the questionable and curious, sometimes disturbing viewers. With this, Padbury aims to offer her audience to question their own reality and how we individually perceive our surroundings rather than via the dictated collective we often conform to within societal norms. Padbury often finds herself drawn to art that does not necessarily make sense in the ‘art-world’, taking primary interest in the Dada movement and new-wave artists from the likes of Michael Clark to Jasper Johns. She aims to challenge the sincerity and serious pocket of contemporary art by adding humour and absurdity to her video work and installation displays. Whilst elements of her work can convey a level of maturity and thoughtfulness, her primary goal is to present the viewer with something to think about and hopefully something that detaches them from the mundaneness of their everyday normality for a short while.

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Instagram: @molly.padbury 

Email: molly1229@hotmail.co.uk