Liza Giles: The Shape of Things
Flowers Gallery, London
9 February - 11 March, 2023
Black/Grass Triptych (Composition II), 2022
Acrylic on raw canvas, 105 x 140 cm
© Liza Giles, courtesy Flowers Gallery
Raw Sienna (Com 3/22), 2022
Acrylic on raw canvas, 95 x 140 cm
© Liza Giles, courtesy Flowers Gallery
Flowers Gallery presents an exhibition by British artist Liza Giles, her first solo presentation at this gallery.
Liza Giles’ large-scale abstract paintings combine a hard-edge approach to line and composition with intuitive mark-making, incorporating expressive gestures amid rigorous formal structures.
Her painting style developed from making smaller collages using found scraps and painted cut-outs. The monumental canvases seen in this exhibition begin with elemental forms that emerged from these collages, transforming the interplay of positive and negative forms through scale and painterly means of expression. At times appearing architectural, the paintings suggest the immensity and solidity of the urban skyline, while harmonious earth tones and feathered edges integrate a sense of light and space.
Often working flat to control the flow of acrylic paint, Liza Giles works by instinct, moving and re-arranging shapes and panels until new intersecting forms emerge. In this way, the paintings remain in flux throughout their making as well as retaining the palpable edge of the initial collage ‘cut’. The muscular swathes of paint are intersected by the internal boundaries of the individual canvas panels, creating borders and channels that splice through the expressive drips and splashes.
Black/Burnt Umber/Plaster (Com I/22), 2022
Acrylic on raw canvas, 90 x 160 cm
© Liza Giles, courtesy Flowers Gallery
Liza Giles says. “My works are driven by an impetus to ‘switch off’ and re-engage with our instinct. I want my art to speak honestly to its observer in a pure and simple way. My work is essentially about how it makes you feel.”
LIZA GILES (b. 1971) graduated with a BA Hons in Printed textiles from Liverpool John Moores University in 1994. She began working as a textile designer before pursuing an 18-year career as an art director, working on interior photo shoots around the world. Liza Giles first exhibited at Flowers Gallery in the exhibition Hidden UK, Hidden Ireland, curated by Sean Scully in the summer of 2022. She lives and works in London.
FLOWERS GALLERY
21 Cork Street, London W1S 3LZ
