Meera Palia

I am a largely self-taught abstract expressionist artist based in Margate, UK. I have always been attracted to spontaneity and improvisation in art forms and have felt a strong need to create abstract art that feels ‘free’ and made ‘in the moment’. My paintings are therefore unplanned, evolving out of the colours, textures, marks and moods that emerge throughout the process and whatever emotions or thoughts I am carrying with me at the time. Working mainly in acrylics but with a mixed media approach, I am aiming for the painting equivalent of a jazz jam or a flamenco improvisation, prioritising spontaneity, authenticity and freedom in mark-making over achieving a polished composition/choreographed act. In this sense, I am most proud of my work when it retains a raw and open-ended, unfinished quality that embraces uncertainty, imperfections and the energy of the process.

Inspired by the rhythmic, gestural, physical act of painting -when it feels like my hand is freestyle dancing- I will also often paint to music, bringing its energy, syncopation and movement into my work.

Painting feels like an enquiry, a dialogue with the unknown. I enjoy being surprised by what happens in front of me and see each piece as a unique event. Recog...

Large-scale and Colour Abstract Painting- City Lit, London (April 2019)

Abstract Painting- Mary Ward Centre, London (Jan-March 2019)

Collage & Mixed Media- City Lit, London (July 2018)

Expressive Painting, Central St Martins Summer School, London (Aug 2011)

Introduction to Abstract Painting, Morley College, London (2010)

PGCE in Post Compulsory Education, University of Brighton (2006-7)

MA in Social & Political Thought, University of Sussex (2004-5)

BSocSc in Media, Culture & Society, University of Birmingham (1996-99)

• ‘If Heaven Falls’, Alternative Valentines Exhibition at The Lido Stores, Margate (Feb - March 2025)
• Off Season Margate Art Trail, Solo Exhibition at Home (Jan 2025)
• The Lido Stores Winter Show (Dec 2024 – Jan 2025)
• Solo exhibition of paintings, Arts in Ramsgate, Ramsgate, Kent (Sep- Nov 2024)
• Rochester Art Fair, Rochester, Kent (Oct 2024)
• Nuclear Arts Summer Exhibition, Halpern Gallery, Chatham, Kent (Aug 2024)
• ‘A Leak in the Party Room’, Solo Exhibition at The Shop Front, Margate and the Power of Women Thanet Festival (Feb-March 2024)
• ‘Sugar Cube III’ Annual Winter Exhibition, The Lido Stores, Margate (Dec 2023)
• ‘Surprise Aquarium’, Solo Exhibition at Willesden Gallery, North London (Jun-Jul 2023)
• Crouch End Open Studios Group Show, The Original Gallery, Hornsey Library (May 2023)
• 'Through Her Eyes' Group Exhibition for Women's History Month, Lyric Hammersmith Theatre (March 2023)
• Made by Tottenham Christmas Market, Hackney Bridge (Dec 2022)
• N22 Open Studios, Collage Arts, Wood Green, North London (Nov 2022)
• Accessible Art Show, Black White Gallery, Kingsland Road (Nov 2022)
• The Other Art Fair, Old Truman Brewery, East London (Oct 2022)
• Crouch End Open Studios - Art Trail & Group Show (Sep 2022)...