Brighton Mermaid by Pearl Bates in Brighton

My work has been collected all over the world, and has been exhibited in New York City, London, Zurich, Marbella, Berlin, Antwerp and Santa Barbara, California, among others. Recent commissions include a ten-piece mural in central Brighton, UK. I've been painting and drawing for as long as I can remember. To this day, I always keep a pen and a sketchbook to hand. They are my talismans. Characters, creatures and ideas tend to hang around and pester me until I have rendered them in ink, paint or graphite. I couldn't really tell you where they come from, but I take inspiration from all kinds of places – for example, street style, high fashion, music, film, theatre, dance, architecture or nature. Sometimes I'll spot someone in a cafe, through a window or across the street, and I feel compelled to try and capture whatever it was that sparked my attention. It could be something about their energy, or the way they walk, or the way they are daydreaming. I graduated from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art in London with a degree in theatre design, and spent a brief time working in the film and TV industry before moving to Berlin and then New York City, where I focused on my art. I’m currently based on the UK’s South Coast, where I work from a studio that has a view of a Norman castle and a kitchen well-stocked with hot-chocolate.