James Dearlove: The Trilling Wire

We are excited to launch season three of brave podcast with artist James Dearlove, who joins host Victoria Comstock-Kershaw to discuss his painting practice and the intuitive process that shapes his work. Based in Cornwall, Dearlove creates figurative paintings where human figures appear within swirling landscapes populated by animals, plants, and symbolic imagery. Rather than constructing fixed narratives, he allows compositions to emerge from instinct, aiming to interrupt immediate interpretation and hold viewers in a moment of uncertainty before meaning settles. The conversation explores his exhibition The Trilling Wire, whose title references T. S. Eliot and the idea of hidden tension or vibration beneath the surface. Dearlove reflects on how literature influences his visual imagination and how his paintings attempt to capture emotional states before they become defined, allowing multiple feelings and possibilities to coexist within the same image. Dearlove also shares how leaving London for Cornwall helped him focus on painting more seriously, while time spent living and working in Greece introduced new imagery drawn from coastal landscapes and olive groves. The episode concludes with reflections on his unconventional path back to painting after a career in television, and his belief that persistence, experimentation, and openness to chance are essential in building an artistic practice.