Artists directory

Olivia

Irvine

Disciplines: Painting

Location: 50 Pirniefield Place, Edinburgh

Materials: Oil

irvineart.co.uk

I create painted worlds that feel like memories, yet remain fictional. These figments of my imagination emerge from a meticulous engagement with the formal language of painting: colour, mark-making and the interplay of shapes. From these abstract foundations, imagery surfaces, evolves and sometimes vanishes, until certain forms are held in place. What is captured may feel surprising, strangely familiar or quietly unsettling. Recurring motifs include cherished objects, family members and ancestors, childhood play, dining tables and picnics. These elements jostle for space in ambiguous environments – part recalled, part invented. Like actors and props on a mutable stage, they play out a narrative that is not fully rehearsed.

Previous Experience

Recent solo exhibitions 2026 Figment, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh 2025 Enclosed Spaces, Linlithgow Burgh Halls 2023 Improvised Fictions, Scottish Arts Club, Edinburgh 2020 Wall to Wall, Union Gallery, Edinburgh 2018 La Fête Champêtre, French Institute, Edinburgh Recent group exhibitions 2026 Irving Contemporary, Oxford Studio 1.1, London 2025 Book of Dreams, A New Primer, Saint Margaret’s House, Edinburgh Studio 1.1, London 2024 Frontiers – Painting in Scotland Now, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh SSA 126th Annual Exhibition, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh Threads, SSAQ, Old Gala House, Galashiels Now & Then, Visual Arts Scotland, RSA and Dalkeith Palace Recent awards and residencies 2025 Blackadder Houston Mid-career Travel Award (Argentina and Chile) Hosking Houses Trust residency, Clifford Chambers, Warwickshire Hope Scott Trust (towards Hosking Houses residency) Creative Scotland Open Fund 2024 Oppenheim John Downes Award Open Eye Gallery Award, SSA

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