The Jolly Toper after Frans Hals The Jolly Toper of 1630 Painting

After taking her Foundation year at Camberwell College of Arts (UAL), London born artist Holly Frean began her formal training as an architect and draughtsman at Oxford Brookes University. Painting soon took over and Frean went on to study Fine Art at City & Guilds of London Art School where she developed a habit of filling diaries and sketchbooks in a day. Her studio practice has since grown to include picture-making in all its forms, typically oil paintings on canvas, collages and printmaking, sometimes supported by 3D work (bronzes and maquettes). Infused with witty observational humour, Frean's work often draws on the lives of her artist heroes and uniquely documents the subtleties in a face, body or movement. Over the past decade she has evolved a highly personal and technically accomplished style. Frean's work has been exhibited extensively in the UK and America (with Rebecca Hossack Gallery until 2016). She has won numerous accolades including the 2012 National Open Art Competition Painting Prize (awarded by Grayson Perry) and regularly shows at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and the ING Discerning Eye at Mall Galleries in London as well as various high-profile charitable events and auctions. Frean's imagination and versatility have recently led to coveted textile, ceramic and wallpaper collaborations with Anthropologie, Burberry, Andrew Martin and Paul Smith. Commissions include those from the Duchess of Northumberland, designer Betty Jackson, comedians Russell Howard and Ricky Gervais, hotelier Kit Kemp, actor Russell Tovey and retailer Johnny Boden.