Vivien Thomason

I drip and swirl liquid acrylics to create complex emotionally resonant abstract works. My work is both intuitive and deliberate with more random beginnings manipulated to bring hints of actual forms into existence. These are often fluid dynamic gestural figures drawing on myth and symbolism: Furies, goddesses, demons and imaginary female warriors.

The paintings are both fierce and playful, lyrical and confrontational, highlighting misogyny, the state of the world, the environment and entrenched systems of power. To me, art is a rebellion.

Vibrant colour provokes emotion through slightly gothic palettes often grounded in sepias and chocolates with highlights of copper and gold echoing Medieval icon paintings.

Recurring motifs are ancient Egyptian goddesses such as Sekhmet who represented both war and healing and is depicted as being spliced in two, highlighting the contradiction of her nature, and Empusiae, based on Ancient Greek mythology of female shape shifting demons who attacked men as well as recent feminist literature. Map paintings feature strongly with paint poured into horizontal surfaces to create tapestries of colour which might be the world, lands or faces. Also Necklace paintings reflecting the symbolic meanings ...

BA Hons English Lit
Art Class London evening classes under Dubravka Kalinich MA 2015-2020
Courses: Colour in Art from Giotto to Van Gough 2023, V and A
Abstract Art, Courtauld Institute 2023

I exhibit with Artwave West, multiple award winning gallery in Dorset:
Form and the Feminine solo show April 2026
The Art of the Abstract Oreofe Gallery Woodstock, Oxfordshire June 2026
Witch Warrior Woman solo show October 2025 Artwave West
'Frays and Furies' solo show Highgate Gallery [HLSI) Pond Square, London N6 July 4-17 2025
'Passages' Shipton St Gallery London E8 April 2024
'Oh Rose Cut in Rock' October 2023 Shipton St Gallery London E8
Sacks and Bird Gallery-Contemporary Art Specialists, London- on-line 2023
'Beasts and Furies' solo show Coffee Circus London N8 Oct-Jan 2022
'Barbarian Tales' solo show Coffee Circus London N8 Oct-Jan 2019
Art Class London group show Hornsey Original Gallery N8 2018