In an age where visual art often races to keep pace with the modern world’s noise and novelty, British painter Tori Day takes a strikingly different approach. Rooted in the rich traditions of still life and portraiture, Day’s paintings pause time, elevate the humble, and invite us to look closer. Her work is not about spectacle; it is about attention, contemplation, and rediscovery.
From Natural Sciences to Fine Art
Tori Day’s creative journey is anything but conventional. Born and based in Bristol, UK, she began her academic path in the world of science, earning a degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge in 1997. Yet, beneath this rigorous academic surface, a quiet but persistent passion for visual art remained.
Eventually, this calling led her to retrain as an artist at Central Saint Martins in London, one of the UK’s most prestigious art schools. Immersed in the city’s cultural ferment, Day refined her skills as both a painter and illustrator, gradually establishing herself within the international art scene. Her works began to find homes with collectors around the world, and her quiet yet powerful voice as an artist began to resonate.
A Painter of the Unseen
Tori Day’s artistic practice focuses primarily on oil painting, with a unique emphasis: she creates dramatic, luminous portraits not of people, but of objects—everyday, often discarded items collected from flea markets, vintage shops, and antique stalls. In her hands, these humble objects—jars, bowls, shoes, paper bags—are transformed into icons of quiet dignity.
Her style pays homage to the tradition of still life, yet she brings a deeply personal and contemporary twist to it. Through bold chiaroscuro lighting—sharp contrasts between light and dark—Day draws out the silent drama of these forgotten objects. Each one becomes a character in its own right, revealing layers of memory, function, and meaning.
Influences: A Dialogue with the Masters
Day’s work is grounded in a deep reverence for art history. Her influences are a lineage of painters known for their ability to transform the mundane into the sublime: the Dutch masters of the seventeenth century, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin’s intimate domestic scenes, Francisco de Zurbarán’s spiritual still lifes, Juan Sánchez Cotán’s monastic minimalism, and Giorgio Morandi’s poetic simplicity.
While her technique nods to the past, her choice of subject matter and framing ensures her work feels distinctly contemporary. There is a tension between reverence and reinvention—a balance that characterizes her broader approach to painting.
Critical Recognition and Exhibitions
Since completing her MA in Fine Art at the University of Brighton in 2016, Day has gained significant traction within the UK art world. Her work has been exhibited in galleries across the country and featured at major art events, including the Affordable Art Fair. She has also been selected for some of the UK’s most respected open-call exhibitions, a testament to her growing critical recognition.
These include:
- The Society of Women Artists at Mall Galleries, London
- The RWA Open at the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
- Wells Art Contemporary at the majestic Wells Cathedral
- The Royal Watercolour Society Open at Bankside Gallery, London
Through these prestigious platforms, her paintings have reached new audiences, and her distinctive voice continues to resonate.
Spotlight on ‘Preserve’
Among her recent works, Preserve (2023) stands as a quintessential example of Day’s practice. Painted in oil on panel, the piece captures a glass jar—perhaps a jam or preserve container—bathed in rich, directional light. The surrounding darkness isolates and elevates the object, forcing the viewer to engage with it in a deeply focused way.
What might have been overlooked on a shelf or at a market stall becomes, in her hands, a subject of reverence and contemplation. The jar’s textures, the subtle shifts in color, and the interplay of transparency and shadow suggest both fragility and resilience—a quiet metaphor, perhaps, for memory and time.
The Power of Stillness
In an art world often dominated by spectacle and instant gratification, Tori Day’s paintings offer something more enduring: stillness, care, and the power of observation. Her ability to uncover beauty in the forgotten, and dignity in the discarded, challenges our assumptions about worth and value—both in art and in life.
Each painting is an invitation to slow down, to look again, and to reconsider what we too often ignore. In this way, Day’s work doesn’t just depict objects—it elevates them. And in doing so, it quietly elevates us as well.
