Helen Beard: It's Her Factory, Unit London

Helen Beard wants to reclaim the female body and in this, her largest solo exhibition to date, she is set to do just that with more vigour that ever before. Beard's colourful paintings border on the abstract and, with each body part coloured separately, it can be difficult to tell what's what to begin with. Slowly you will piece together the puzzle of entwined limbs, and then – oh!

Beard uses images taken from pornography and reinterprets them in a way that prioritises female pleasure and body positivity. She closely crops her compositions and uses strong colours that promote an initial sense of heady disorientation. Look even closer and you will see the textures of the paint, which make the surface of her canvases seem almost almost alive, ‘like fingers stroking the skin,’ she says.

In the past Beard has turned her hand to needlepoint and collage and this exhibition at Unit London will include her first sculptural work. She has also been included in several shows at Damien Hirst’s, The Newport Street Gallery. The daring nature of her painting makes it easy to see why her work appeals to Hirst, the art world's most famous enfant terrible.