PHOENIX Painting

Monica Metsers was born in Wellington, New Zealand in 1980, but has lived in the English Lake District for the majority of her life. Monica graduated from the University of Dundee with a Masters Degree in Fine Art in 2005 and has been steadily exhibiting and selling her work nationally since then. In 2007 she was short-listed for the Celeste Art Prize and in 2011 was shortlisted for 'New Lights; The Valeria Sykes Prize' for young painters, and was awarded second prize from around 400 entries for regional art prize 'Open up North'. In summer 2012 Monica exhibited alongside artists such as Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Turner Prize nominee George Shaw in ''Francis Bacon to Paula Rego: Great Artists' at Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal. Her works are now in numerous private and two public collections. Monica is currently working towards a solo show in the Marylebone Parish Crypt as part of the 'Contemporary British Painting' collective in March 2014. Through her practice Monica aims to explore ways in which subconscious fantastical experiences may be visually manifested. Her work reflects a lifelong love of fantasy and escapism. Primarily she makes objects, which are quick to realise, using existing objects as a basis upon which to intuitively build with various materials, in the hope of achieving interesting and unpredictable results. These are all painted white and then photographed with different colours cast onto them, depending on the effects she wants in a particular painting. Paintings are based on these arranged photographed compositions of the objects. Monica works in layers of oil paint, building up different thicknesses to create a sculptural effect. Her intention is to create dreamscapes or mindscapes that are subtly suggestive of imaginative and fantastical experience. Monica's work is currently on a Gallery and Museum tour of China as part of the 'Contemporary Masters From Britain' Exhibition.