Meet the artist: Beth Shapeero
Meet Beth Shapeero, programme artist for Affordable Art Fair Battersea Autumn, 15-19 October 2025.
Katie Bone
Thursday 14 August, 2025
Beth Shapeero photographed by Harrison Reid in 2023
We’re thrilled to introduce Beth Shapeero as our programme artist for Affordable Art Fair Battersea Autumn, 15 – 19 October 2025.
Based in Glasgow, Beth works across a diverse range of mediums, from canvas paintings to bold silkscreen monotype triptychs and dramatic floor-to-ceiling installations. Each artwork invites connection and creates moments of wonder.
Join us as we dive into her inspiring practice. From a love affair with pink to her powerful community workshops supporting young people’s mental health, Beth’s approach to abstract art is refreshingly honest and deeply human. Discover what drives this brilliant artist, her unconventional use of everyday materials, and why she thinks everyone should trust their gut when buying art.
We’re so excited to have you as our programme artist! Can you tell us more about your practice and what inspires you?
Thank you! I like my practice to be a bit wild. I’m trying to get at what’s below the surface—not to make something too polite, but to get under my own skin and see what’s going on there.
I have to loosen up to make the work, to find a space where I’m making freely without feeling too constrained or self-conscious. To do that, I try and make lots of work quickly and let go of whether it’s any good or not, then just see what comes out. If I can get really free and loose, I can surprise myself. It’s like I’m not in control, and without my brain controlling everything, something more direct can emerge.
Sometimes it’s hard to put my finger on what inspires me because it can be so broad, but right now it seems to be stories and images. Books are so powerful at connecting to raw emotion and shooting you into someone else’s deep, weird world and thoughts. Sometimes I find myself completely connecting to a fictional person’s emotions and vulnerability. I’m processing images or emotional spaces—often from books as I work—sometimes seeing an image in my head of, for instance, a woman in an intense space and painting the forms of it.
“I like stripping things down to their most minimal, most essential forms.”
Beth Shapeero
Your works investigate abstraction, considering surface, depth and the subconscious – what draws you to abstract expression?
I like stripping things down to their most minimal, most essential forms. Life is so layered and complex, but what about just the wind, or the feeling of gravity? It’s perhaps an antithesis to the overwhelm of life and a way to find a scatty mind. I’m drawn to that in music and film too—when it’s the most pared back, it can be the most powerful.
You’re known for unconventional presentation methods – can you talk about your innovative use of everyday materials?
I find it hard to throw things away. I don’t like contributing to landfill, and I feel like every object has potential and can be something useful or special. Even old scrappy bits of used paper can house the most beautiful drawings. I keep everything and want to make it into something.
“I think everyone has a personal palette – the colours we are drawn to, dress in, pick for our homes. I can’t get away from my love of pink”
Beth Shapeero
What role does colour play in your work, and how do you develop personal palettes?
I think everyone has a personal palette – the colours we are drawn to, dress in, pick for our homes. I can’t get away from my love of pink, which exposes my girliness, and honestly, I feel a bit conflicted about it. But I’m also drawn to inky blacks and blues and soft, gentle colours. My tastes change and I gain more colours as I go. I like this mad acid yellowy-green that I started using with my artist friend and collaborator, Fraser Taylor. It looks great with pink!
Have you always been an artist?
I decided being an artist was what I wanted to do when I was fifteen and witnessed all the adults around me being generally unhappy in their jobs. I didn’t realise it’d be quite this hard – but I do love it. I’ve had to have other jobs my whole life to support my practice up until the last few years. I’ve worked for many years in restaurants, bars and cinemas; all places that I still adore.
“Making art can be a solitary practice, as can much of life, and it can be a beautiful way to connect with people.”
Beth Shapeero
Your work often involves people and strives to promote connection – why is community engagement central to your practice?
Making art can be a solitary practice, as can much of life, and it can be a beautiful way to connect with people. I adore teaching. It comes naturally, and people love making art – even those who are a bit scared of it at first.
It’s just joyful sharing practice with people and helping to develop their confidence in making, which is so inherent to all of us, but a lot of people lose it. Sometimes people respond so delightedly to really straightforward art processes that it makes me well up.
Your work addresses current themes around mental health, community, and accessibility in art – why are these issues important to you?
The processes I use lend themselves to supporting positive mental health, I think that’s why I am so driven to make work all the time, it’s a crutch and keeps me sane, I know that if I am stressed, I can make something. The processes I use in my practice – looking, noticing, caring, having empathy, being in tune with your emotions, making things, considering them – are all forms of being present and in tune with ourselves, and it’s when we disconnect from this that things can go awry.
How does showing in a fair environment align with your commitment to accessible art?
I think it’s important for people to have original artwork in their homes – not just generic prints, but carefully made and selected objects that form a connection between the maker and the person who lives with it.
When you have artwork in the home, you engage with it gently, seeing it every day, contemplating it without realising. I think my relationship with abstraction grew from having artwork at home – nothing fancy, but a few good prints and posters on the wall.
Considering how many people feel alienated by art, and often abstract work, I think living with it can break down those barriers from the inside. Affordable Art Fair presents a relatively affordable place to collect original work, and there are numerous other small fairs and open studios which are great places where people can directly connect with artists and get their hands on bargains.
You’ll be creating a new installation for our main entrance! What can visitors expect?
I’m making very large floor-to-ceiling paintings on unstretched canvas—so basically huge hanging sections of canvas suspended from the truss in the roof to the floor. I am making these at the moment, figuring out what works on that scale and how I want them to look. It will be big!
What message do you hope people take away from the installation?
I am hoping to create a real ‘wow’ impact when people come in. I think the scale and ambition will be striking. My favourite reaction from people seeing my work is when they say it makes them want to make work. If people come away inspired to get making, I’ll be very happy.
Any advice for new visitors who might be experiencing contemporary art for the first time?
It can be a little overwhelming as there is a lot of art. Get a drink, mill around and enjoy it. Don’t be afraid to start conversations in booths. Gallerists and artists want to engage with visitors, and if you see something you like, go with your gut. Don’t try to overthink or rationalise buying art.
And finally, what are you most excited about for the fair?
I really love the buzz. I have never participated in a fair of this scale—it’s a lot of work and adrenaline and being ‘on’. You meet so many people, and everyone is in a generous, friendly mood. I am most excited for that buzz.
Discover more from Beth Shapeero at Affordable Art Fair, Battersea Autumn 15 – 19 October, alongside over 100 exhibiting galleries and thousands of stunning contemporary artworks.
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