Art on a Postcard International Women’s Day Auction - Curated by AOAP

About 

Megan Menzies (born 1995) graduated from University of Bristol with a BA in History of Art in 2016, before completing an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in 2022. Her work has been shown in both solo and group exhibitions internationally. In 2022 she received the Now Introducing Prize from Studio West Gallery, London and she is a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Grant, 2021. 

Education 

2013-2016  
BA History of Art, University of Bristol 

2020-2022  
MA Painting, Royal College of Art 

Select Exhibitions/Awards 

Now Introducing Prizewinner, Studio West Gallery, London (2022)  

Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant (2021)  

2024  

January — ‘Glimpse’, solo exhibition at LKIF gallery, Seoul, South Korea  

2023 

April — 'NOW' online showcase, Huxley Parlour, London  

April — 'A Matter of Perspective', Liliya Gallery, London  

March — 'The Mosaic of Blossom', The Artiststellar, London  

February — ‘Look Mum No Hands’, Be Advisors, London 2022  

November- ‘TINTO’, solo exhibition at La Causa gallery, Madrid 

November- “Now Introducing’, Studio West, London  

August – ‘Summer Show’, Eve Leibe Gallery, London  

July – ‘Home’, The Regency Town House, Brighton and Hove  

June – ‘What is Becoming Us’, Rupture Xibit, London  

June – ‘Royal College of Art’ 2022 Degree Show, London 2021  

March – ‘Safe as Milk’, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh  

February – ‘Work in Progress 2021’, Royal College of Art  

Statement about AOAP Submitted Artwork 

In my paintings I depict uncanny moments and situations that have a developed sense of atmosphere and feeling. A head on the horizon. A tear in an ear. A hard shoulder in the rain. My process involves drawing, painting and writing to explore memory, personal experience and storytelling. I often focus on ordinary moments that have a heavy, melancholic quality, where time thickens and small details are valued and intensified. Before I start painting, a period of drawing is crucial to my process. I use charcoal. Because the medium is so malleable it has the ability to keep up with thought, connections and imagination. It allows me to quickly fill my studio with images so that I can visualise lots of ideas at once. Then narratives can be drawn from them and connections made between them. This process feeds the paintings. In my paintings I often return to the motif of the blushing cheek to explore ideas of heightened sensitivity, emotional vulnerability and embarrassment. I’m interested in the psychology of the blush and its relationship with the practice of painting itself – both painting and blushing being complicated indications of feeling. While one is voluntary and the other not, I see both painting and blushing as strange and muddled forms of expression and think of each painting as a sort of blush. The spaces I depict in my work often have an unreal, dreamlike, illusionistic or cinematic quality. Exploring the translucent qualities of oil paint, layering techniques, superimposition and glazing is integral to my process and in particular the representation of storytelling, recollection and blushing. I’m interested in the act of looking and the different layers we bring to the experience of looking – memory, feeling, identity. By experimenting with form and technique, I strive to get closer to the emotional core of the dreamlike moments at the heart of my paintings. 

You must not reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit any works. In doing so, you endanger our relationships with artists, and directly jeopardise the charitable work we do.