| Chelsea College of Art | Foundation Course |
| Kingston Poly | BA (hons.) |
| Royal College of Art | MA |
| Central Saint Martins | MA Fine Art Distinction Sept. 2006 |
Your work shows dedicated commitment to the process of abstraction - subtle use of colour/ visceral embodiment of meaning and feeling. You have researched widely, and are conversant with contemporary/historical trends and sources. This is amply demonstrated in the work.
The show is comprised of an installation of paintings - each painting takes up a conversation with the others and works to enrich the whole experience of the painting per se. The paintings are exemplary in the way they embrace the viewer and take the viewer into their folds of meaning. The development of the painting/installation has benefited from a thorough exploration of contemporary context for the work.
Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design: Distinction
HEIDI LOCHER – PAINTER
The moment you encounter Heidi Locher’s work, you are invited to experience a level of intimacy that’s notably rare in modern painting. This is an artist unashamed to bear her soul on canvas. What makes her rare among her contemporaries, is that courage is matched by talent.
With DIRTY PAINTER, the vigour and vitality of the central image leaps out at you. Semi-abstracted yet wonderfully present, the figure oozes sensuality. I love the unapologetic flair and hutzpah evoked by her bravura use of brushstroke. Yet, like all the best work, there is depth here too. Look beyond the central image and you are made aware of a darker reality fringing the main narrative. It is almost as if the subject of the painting is battling, by sheer force of will, to keep at bay those darker forces. And this is something else I love about Ms Locher’s work. Her paintings – thank God - have titles. Not for her the false security of numbers or gnomic silence. She is painting stories – dark, complex, sensual and deeply intimate. Experience RIDING DIRTY or SLIP SLIDING AWAY and you can almost feel yourself embroiled in the artist's own experience of sex and loss.
This is the real thing - art at its most open-hearted and beautiful.
JEREMY BROCK
Screenwriter
Private Collector