Collection: Mireille Laurent

Laurent trained in classical painting technique before gradually stripping her work down to its essentials — form and tone, with colour and detail pared back rather than emphasised. Her paintings are built through many thin layers, applied and partially wiped back, so the final surface has a soft, worn-in quality, closer to an old wall than a fresh canvas. She works instinctively rather than from sketches, letting each layer respond to the one before it, and often leaves a piece for weeks before returning to make a final adjustment. She describes her approach as "editing more than painting" — most of her studio time goes into deciding what to remove or soften rather than what to add. "The quietest part of a painting is usually the part I worked hardest on," she says.