Wendy Elia

Wendy Elia is a British figurative painter of Anglo/ Greek Cypriot descent, Academician at RWA (Royal West of England Academy), also part of  The Cultural Olympiad in 2012, finalist in a number of national and international competitions including the National Portrait Gallery JPS and BP Portrait Awards (4 times), Sovereign European Painting Prize, Ruth Borchard Self Portrait prize and many others. She was also the co founder of ‘InFems Intersectional Feminist Arts Collective’. Her Most recent work is now on show in Berlin until Jan 2023 @ Haus Kunst Mitte Heidestraße 54, 10557 Berlin, Germany

www.wendyelia.com

@eliapaintings

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Wendy Elia works in series which explore the social and broader contexts of our times. In her portrait work she confronts our voyeurism and asks questions about the female gaze, gender, identity and painting’s relationship to authenticity and illusion. Elia moves from the personal to the political not only in the range of content and form in the various series, but also within individual paintings: using a range of pictorial symbols and signifiers to extend the meaning/narrative of the works.

Wendy Elia trained at St Martins School of Art. She has exhibited widely and been a finalist in a number of national and international competitions including the National Portrait Gallery JPS and BP Portrait Awards (4 times), Sovereign European Art Prize, Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize, and the Threadneedle Prize. Her work is held in public permanent collections across the UK, including at the RWA (Royal West of England Academy), University of Essex, Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, Falmouth Art Gallery, Priseman Seabrook Collection: 21st Century British Painting and in private collections in the UK, Italy and South Africa. She was recently the recipient of a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and in 2019 was elected as an RWA Academician. Notable commissions include Arts Council funded projects such as a portrait for the cultural Olympiad (converted into life sized posters and displayed on billboards, bus stops etc.) and ‘Shifting Subjects: Contemporary Women Telling the Self through the Visual Arts’ (Grimsby and Usher Gallery, Lincoln) exhibiting alongside Sarah Lucas, Miranda Whall and others. In addition to her many solo exhibitions, Elia has exhibited widely in numerous group shows, including a tour of China with the Contemporary British Painting collective and ‘Strange Worlds –The Vision of Angela Carter’ (RWA, Bristol). Figure this. .She has contributed to symposia in the UK and has been called upon to judge a number of art competitions. She was also the co founder of ‘InFems’ Intersectional Arts Collective and has curated shows and exhibed with them and guest artists across the Uk and Internationally

Her Most recent work is on show in Berlin until jan 2023 @ Haus Kunst Mitte Heidestraße 54, 10557 Berlin, Germany

Gallery Images (from left)

• Maxime (oil on canvas) 166x91cms 2010 – held in the RWA Permanent Collection. Taken from the series of paintings ‘Half Naked’ exploring gender and identity. See Here for more information on this series
• Made In Britain (oil on canvas) 164 x184 cms 2011/12
• The Visit V (Mary) Oil on canvas 130x170cms 2010
• Where Are We Now (Oil On Canvas) 160 x 130 cms 2021
• A Dance To The Music Of Time II 180x220cms Oil on Canvas 2018
• Carmen And Luisa (183x146)  2016 Oil On Canvas
• Portrait Of The Artist As An Old Woman 210x150cms oil on canvas 2015
• We Need A God Who Bleeds 130x120 cms (oil on canvas)2021
• We Need A God Who Bleeds detail
• Peppi Knott -oil-on canvas-170cmx107cm 2013
• Alex (Fighter) oil on canvas 166x91cms 2004