Dominic Berry is an artist who uses drawing, painting and making to investigate and transform the familiar. His practice begins with close observation, but follows a wider curiosity: how might light, surface, material, construction or scale change the way we encounter something we think we know? A passing detail can become the starting point for a work, whether it is torn paper caught in a particular light, an unexpected pattern or a memory stirred by music.

 

Born in Mexico in 1971 to English and American parents, Berry spent part of his childhood in Spain and now lives in Wiltshire. He studied art before beginning his career as a scenic sculptor, model maker and visual effects technician, working across television, advertising and music. He later taught art for 23 years, finishing his teaching career as Head of Art at St Swithun’s School in Winchester.

 

Turner’s sketchbooks, Sargent’s expressive handling of paint and drawing, and Sorolla’s treatment of sunlight have long informed Berry’s way of looking. His connection to Sorolla’s work is also personal: its warmth and intimacy recall his childhood in Spain. Across his own work, Berry brings an artist’s sensitivity to light and feeling together with a maker’s attention to how things are built.

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His practice is best understood as a single artistic enquiry explored through multiple forms. Drawing, painting and making each offer him a different way to examine a subject and carry an idea further.