The Dream Painting

Elsa Santos was born in 1971 in Seville, Spain. She grew up in a family of artists of multiple generations. The practice of creating work and finding one's own path for expression has underpinned her whole life as a child and adult. In Andalucia, her grandfather and father are well-known artists and sculptors, with important works in many public squares, churches and private collections. Elsa studied in the very traditional Faculty of Fine Arts in Seville where her father was a Professor in Sculpture. She specialized in painting, yet her training is broad and classical, from fresco painting to experimental work with new mediums and chemistry. After graduating Elsa moved to London where she lived for a decade working in the film and visual effects industry as a digital artist creating matte paintings and textures at the Soho production house, Framestore. Her work can be seen in feature films such as Harry Potter, Troy and Walking With Beasts. In 2006 Elsa left the UK and moved to South East Asia where she took up the role of Art Director for two years on Singapore’s debut animated feature film, Sing to the Dawn. Later in 2008, she settled in Sydney with her husband Matthew and daughter Ella, becoming an Australian citizen in 2012. Elsa’s practice spans the traditional and the modern. In this exhibition, we see the traditional, and that she is a gifted drafts-woman and a fine practitioner of techniques learned in Spain from her family and faculty. She prepares her own materials and explores the exciting conformation of pigment and medium. Elsa’s preferred mode of expression is drawing; through recent years she has developed a unique technique that allows her to create very precise lines on the surface layer of the painting using an etching needle. Often layer upon layer of drawings receding into the substrate of the medium. Her source of inspiration comes from the myriad natural forms in her life and journeys, mysterious and organic shapes that seem unplanned but yet so perfect and beautifully fit together. These observations have become visual themes in her image making. Dreaming and trusting the unconscious mind to wander and explore – as a process, connects her research, images, and themes. Much like a musician, there is a liberty grounded in improvisation within her practice.