Melissa Kime

Melissa Kime is a London-based painter whose practice is rooted in storytelling and a deep connection to the natural world. Her works - which are characterised by a naive drawing style and rich, seasonal palette- are also informed by Renaissance painting, children’s literature and Polish and Ukrainian folk art and craft traditions.

Drawing from life is key within Melissa’s practice, and her paintings and monoprints often reference the artist’s everyday encounters with - and affection for - the local wildlife around her London home. Foxes, squirrels and birds inhabit her imagery with elongated mystical figures and symbolic forms that combine to create a sense of magic. In Melissa’s words; ‘what inspires me most are the changing seasons, the small details of the world that are so often overlooked, and the people, animals or things that I come across in my daily life.’

Melissa graduated from Falmouth University with a BA in Fine Art in 2011 and received a postgraduate diploma in drawing from the Royal Drawing School in 2013 where she won the Windsor and Newton Prize. She went on to study at the Royal College of Art in 2015 and graduated with an MA in Painting. Melissa was selected for the Bloomberg New Contemporaries exhibition at the ICA, London, in 2014 and won the Arts Club award at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition in London in 2019. She has exhibited widely in the UK and abroad, most recently at Patricia Low Contemporary, Venice, where her work was included a group exhibition in May 2026. Melissa also teaches painting at the Royal College of Art and the Essential School of Painting, both in London. She lives and works in south east London.

We are proud to present new work by Melissa in our upcoming group exhibition And Other Animals. Please contact us to request a catalogue preview.

Portrait of the artist courtesy Studio Zine.