“My aim is to yield delight and joy through the geometric arrangement of colour” – Elisabeth Deane
Grosvenor Gallery is all set to present Elisabeth Deane’s first solo exhibition, ‘Rhythmic Measures’. The exhibition will be on view at the Gallery from 29th November till 20th December 2019.
Elisabeth Deane (b 1985) is a painter who uses ancient traditional techniques to create work with an entirely contemporary aesthetic. The colours and detailed brushwork are inspired by Islamic geometry and the miniature painting traditions of India and Iran.
Many of the colours are stone based – lapis lazuli, malachite and cinnabar – and have been ground painstakingly by hand. The abstract geometric nature of Elisabeth’s work represents the simple and the universal, the micro and the macro and the interplay between these dichotomies.
While studying at the University of Cambridge in 2011, Elisabeth won the Helga Todd Foundation Award and spent two months working in Santiniketan, West Bengal. It was this experience that led to her initial interest in the artistic traditions of India. While there Elisabeth was inspired by the works of Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore; both his writings (the title of the show comes from the poem ‘The Stream of Life’ by Tagore), and his paintings. Elisabeth has since returned to India and studied under Master miniature painters in Rajasthan.
Elisabeth learnt much of her craft at the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts where she was awarded the Albukhary Foundation scholarship in 2017. She has also obtained degrees in History of Art (BA), and the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas (MA) from the University of East Anglia and a PGCE in Art & Design from the University of Cambridge. In November 2018, she was a finalist in the Asian Art in London Emerging Artist Award. Elisabeth lives and works in Cambridge.
