Zak last in his studio working on the painting View from Norman Keep Clitheroe.

Zak Last  is a contemporary artist who was born 1972 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.

Zak studied Illustration at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art graduating in 1993. His passion for painting Lancashire started in the last 12 years, when he moved over the Pennines with his young family. He also demonstrates his continued love of France through his recent paintings, yet he continues to push boundaries through the objects he has chosen.

​

Zak is constantly challenging himself on how to apply the oil paint, through controlled motions, yet when the viewer is close-up to the work, they can see the application of the oil in its frenzied state. If they pull away again the sense of an ordered almost photographic image takes shape. The beauty is in the depth of the interpretation of the image, that continues to draw you in.

​

On viewing the Lancashire paintings, the viewer is immediately struck by large dramatic landscapes of both the Cuerden and Ribble Valleys and alongside them the balance of a series of smaller paintings and paper works. Zak's Inspiration is found from being in the right place at the right time, witnessing for example how dappled light falls in a woodland. Each piece of work represents a personal experience, which is then translated onto the canvas in Zak’s studio. Zak translates what he sees via Plein Air drawing onto the canvas to produce a finished painting.

Over the decades Zak has visited and produced paintings from  Kenya, Tanzania, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Greek Islands. His paintings hang in public and private collections around the world. He has had solo and group exhibitions since 1996, where he was based at East Street Art Studios in Leeds. In 2019 Zak had his most successful Landscapes, Buildings and Objects exhibition, Coach House Gallery, Astley Hall, in Lancashire with forty original oil paintings on show. As a result of this exhibition there was a demand for limited edition prints and private commissioned work. 

Zak is currently working on a project which is close to his passion of the environment and wildlife. The impact of plastic and rubbish disgarded by humans in a landscape, woodland or on the beaches and how to create work to show this. 

S