Lisa Wright
“Her jewel like palette, of rich reds, royal blues, turquoise, baby pinks and deep blacks, glows”
- Lizzie Lloyd
Lisa Wright’s practice reflects historical paintings with a contemporary flare and haunting elegance. Often isolated, the figures within Wright's paintings and drawings hover on the brink of adulthood. Their childish faces, flushed cheeks and rounded bellies are at odds with the fragments of formal, adult, decorative clothing - ribbons, ruffs and petticoats - that adorn their predominantly unclothed bodies. The complex, in-between era of puberty is explored through the emotional and physical vulnerability of the figures, and adolescent elegance, confidence, awkwardness and defiance are exposed.
After studying at The Royal Academy Schools, London, Wright relocated to Cornwall, where she currently lives and works. She has exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions, such as at Tate St Ives in the significant Art Now Cornwall exhibition. In 2019, Wright worked in collaboration with Tom Piper MBE on a major commission for the Forestry Commission’s at Suffolk’s Thetford Forest, celebrating 100 years of forestry. Future Forest featured ten life size figures by Wright, based on Classical motifs, placed by and within the landscape by Piper, representing custodians of the past looking over our forests.
Wright’s work is held in many corporate and private collections and she was artist in residence with the Royal Shakespeare Company throughout the two year period of their Histories cycle, culminating in an exhibition at the Roundhouse, London. Wright's work has been selected for the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition for 25 years. Awards include the National Open Art Prize, the Hunting Art Prize, and the 2013 Threadneedle Prize.
Lisa Wright is represented by Coates & Scarry.
Education
Royal Academy Schools, London
Elected member of Newlyn Society of Artists
Senior Lecturer at Falmouth University
Maidstone College of Art
Prizes / Awards
2019 | Future Forest Public Commission with Tom Piper MBE
2013 | Threadneedle prize - Joint Winner
2013 | EVOLVER Prize RWA
2012 | Elected Royal West of England Academician (RWA)
2009 | The National Open Art Competition, First prize
2009 | The Lynn Painter- Stainers Prize - runner-up
2008 | The National Open Art Competition, Second prize
2005 | 25th Anniversary Most Popular Painting Prize at Hunting Art Prizes - shortlisted for the Sovereign European Art Prize
2003 |Hunting Art Prizes - First prize
2003 | Arts Council of England Award
2003 | Hunting Art Prizes, Regional Award
2003 | The Villiers David Award (Fine Art)
1996 | Young Artist Award, Marks & Spencer (NEAC)
1994 | The Winsor & Newton Young Artist Award
1993 | The Royal Overseas League Travel Scholarship
1993 | WH Patterson Fine Arts Award
1993 | The George Isted Prize (RA schools)
1992 | The Royal Academy Premiums Painting Prize
Select Solo Exhibitions
2019-20 | Future Forest, Thetford Forest with Tom Piper MBE, UK
2019 | Infinite Forest, London with Coates & Scarry, UK
2018 | In The Eyes of Each, Faction New York with Coates & Scarry
2017 | Young Visionaries, PULSE Miami, Coates & Scarry
2016 | New Work, CONTEXT New York, Coates & Scarry
2015 | The Unversed, Curated by Coates and Scarry at Gallery 8 London
2013 | New Drawings, Millennium Gallery
2010 | Into the Light, Beardsmore Gallery, London
2008 | The Histories, Paintings produced during two year residency with the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Roundhouse and Beardsmore Gallery, London & The Royal Academy Café Gallery, London
2006 | Night Paintings, Lemon Street Gallery, Cornwall
2005 | Beach Paintings, Beardsmore Gallery, London
2001 | Beardsmore Gallery, London
1996 | Thornton/Bevan Arts, London
1995 | Sadlers Wells Gallery, London Raw Gallery, London
Select Group Exhibitions
2020 | Revisiting the Decameron, Flowers Gallery, London
2019 | Discerning Eye London - invited by Sir Tim Rice
2019 | In Edition, Bo Lee Gallery, London
2019 | London Original Print Fair & London Art Fair, Advanced Graphics London
2018 | IFPDA International NY, Advanced Graphics London
2017 | VOLTA BASEL, Coates & Scarry, 2 person presentation with Penny Byrne
2017 | RWA Autumn Exhibition, The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2016-17 | 2014 | 1991-2012 | The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
2016 | The Strange World of Angela Carter, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK
2015 | ART CENTRAL, Coates & Scarry, Hong Kong
2015 | Spring Masters, The Armoury, John Martin, New York
2015 | Impressions, Herbert Read Gallery, UCA Canterbury
2009 | The National Open Art Competition, Pallant House, (1st Prize winner)
2009 | The Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize, London (Prizewinner)
2008 | The Threadneedle Prize, London
2007 | Art Now Cornwall, TATE Gallery St. Ives
2006 | The Sovereign European Art prize, London