Jackie Wullschlager profiles painter Lucy Jones whose exhibition Looking Out, Looking In is on view at King's Place Gallery, London through March 21, 2014.

Wullschlager writes that half the show features "introspective and brutally frank self-portraits where simplified compositions – the full-length figure placed boldly against flat abstract grounds – confront conventions of self-presentation, identity, femininity and ageing. In 'Wheelie', a sculpturally posed walking frame echoes the posture of the artist, standing squat, determined but clumsy as an oversized toddler, resplendent in psychedelically striped jumper and dungarees…The other half of the paintings, expressive landscapes in shrill chromatic contrasts, look outwards… Exuberant and joyful, these are also edgy and, restless, as off-balance as the self-portraits. 'People tend to like either the landscapes or the portraits,' Jones says. 'And people who like the one don’t understand why I do the other, but for me the two go absolutely hand-in-hand.' "