ARTIST BIO

Bradley Long (b. 1965, England) is a drawing artist and printmaker based in Oslo, Norway. His immersive monochrome work traverses macro and micro terrains, moving between panoramic scenes and close-up renderings of organic form. The horizon becomes an evolving liminal plane where subterranean and surface worlds coexist, allowing distant and intimate perspectives to converge within a single image.

Working primarily with graphite, charcoal, ink and printmaking, Long creates imagined landscapes where geological, biological and cosmic processes merge. Patterns of germination, rooting, cellular growth, branching, flowering, fruiting, erosion and ecological renewal recur throughout. Using materials drawn from the earth, he embraces the physicality of drawing as an extension of the natural processes his work investigates. Carrying their own geological histories, these elemental materials become active agents in image formation, retaining a connection to the land from their material origins into the finished image.

Long employs monochrome to suspend colour, directing attention towards the structures of the earth. While drawing is at the centre of his artistic language, he approaches the medium with a sensibility that is as much spatial as pictorial. He is drawn to the sculptural qualities of weight, mass and proportion in relation to the surrounding space. Each work is built through a gradual accumulation of line, shading, crosshatching and layering. It begins with spontaneous gesture, refined through sustained mark-making, erasure and revision. Throughout, intuition and intention negotiate the unpredictability of the medium and the artist's embodied response.

Occupying the threshold between materiality and imagination, the seen and the unseen, his practice brings together the outer landscape and the inner landscape of consciousness. Natural elements often take on a symbolic life beyond their material reality, the Tree of Life recurring as one such motif. While not predetermined, these associations enter the artistic language of his work. Beauty and brokenness are held together in tension through forms that twist and entangle, becoming thorn-like, while traces of erasure, revision and gestural marks remain visible within the finished work.

Long’s landscapes reflect our own intimate connection to the earth. We do not simply inhabit nature — we are nature. Mirroring human existence, they become contemplative spaces that invite reflection on our place within the greater cycles of life, mortality and renewal. They offer an encounter with the natural world as a form of cosmic memory and primordial presence, evoking a sense of wonder, longing and mystery.

Long holds a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. He founded and directed Long Space Gallery, an independent exhibition and events space in Oslo that presented exhibitions and concerts by local artists and students from the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. 

In 2026, Long’s work was included in the group exhibitions Spiritualism I and Spiritualism II at Con/Temporary Spaces, Turin, and Botanical Art at the same gallery. His work was also included in Nature, an international online group exhibition with No.35 Gallery, London, and was a finalist in Earthbound, an international online exhibition organised by the TERAVARNA Foundation, Los Angeles. He is an Outside In Artist, with work featured in the organisation’s online artist gallery.

Forthcoming projects include Landscapes & Seascapes, a special edition and online exhibition with Collect Art Gallery, Tbilisi. His work will also feature in the accompanying special edition of Collect Art magazine, in both print and online. Long is currently developing Beginnings, a project that investigates the generative energy that animates and perpetually transforms the natural world. He will extend the project into etching and other printmaking processes during a forthcoming residency at Norske Grafikeres Verksted, Oslo, in 2026–2027. The project will culminate in a solo exhibition at Nordstrand Kulturarena in 2027.