ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
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, as intuition and intention negotiate the unpredictability of material 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 here 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 in Oslo, an initiative supporting emerging artists. Recent projects include a printmaking residency and solo exhibition, Life Force: In Search of Meaning, at Kulturarena Nordstrand, and a site-responsive installation of the same title at Hauketo-Prinsdal Church, Oslo. This autumn his work appears in the group exhibitions Botanical Art and Spiritualism at Con/Temporary Spaces, Turin, alongside a second solo exhibition at Kulturarena Nordstrand. Long is currently developing Beginnings, a project that investigates the generative energy that animates and perpetually transforms the natural world. He will begin a six-month printmaking residency at Norske Grafikeres Verksted, Oslo, extending Beginnings into etching and other printmaking processes.

PERSONAL DETAILS
Born 1965, London, UK
Lives and works in Oslo, Norway

ART EDUCATION
1991—1992
BA (Hons) Fine Art
The University for Creative Arts, Farnham, UK

1985—1987
BA (Hons) Fine Art Studies
Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

1984—1985
Foundation in Art & Design
Kingston University, Kingston-upon-Thames, UK

RESIDENCIES
2026—2027 (forthcoming)
Printmaking Residency
Norske Grafikeres Verksted, Oslo, Norway

2024—2025
Printmaking Residency
Nordstrand Kulturarena, Oslo, Norway

EXHIBITIONS & INSTALLATIONS
2026 (forthcoming)
Beginnings
Solo exhibition
Nordstrand Kulturarena, Oslo, Norway

2026
Spiritualism
Group exhibition, Con/Temporary Spaces — Tenda Icaros, Turin, Italy

2026
Botanical Art
Group exhibition, Con/Temporary Spaces — Santa Teresa, Turin, Italy

2026
Life Force: In Search of Meaning
Site-responsive installation of drawings and prints
Hauketo-Prinsdal Church, Oslo, Norway

2025
Life Force: In Search of Meaning
Solo exhibition
Nordstrand Kulturarena, Oslo, Norway