Olivia Mcewan

My work applies the visual analysis and research disciplines obtained in studying BA and MA art history at the Courtauld, London, to demonstrate that art is both a continuum and a language which speaks across time and space. Materials, styles and motifs evolve, as do curatorial methods; we attempt to imitate life in art, then continuously frame and reframe it. Running parallel is the constant destructive force of nature, which weathers and re-forms these imitations, unaffected by contemporary artistic concerns. To capture this dichotomy I create composites of artistic motifs, applied arts, decorative patterns and historical fragments with natural elements, often ironically playing on the illusionistic aspects of art imitating nature.

Shortlisted - The New Emergence Art Prize 2021
​Shortlisted - The Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize 2021

Courtauld Institute of Art: MA Making and meaning of art in the middle ages (2011)
Courtauld Institute of Art: BA Art History (2010)

Minors, Colchester 2024
Oxo Tower Wharf, London 2023
Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize, London 2021
Southwark Park Galleries 37th Annual Open 2021
Smith & Williamson Private View 2016
Corpus by HRL Contemporary, St Johns Wood 2009
East Wing 8 Biennial, Courtauld Institute 2008-09