Anousha Payne

[ b. 1991 ]

lives and works in London. She graduated from Camberwell College of Arts with a BFA in 2014. Mainly working with sculpture and painting, her preferred materials are ceramics, textile, plaster, epoxy and watercolour.

Payne's work explores the human pursuit of spirituality in object form, as a mode of cultural expression that is distinct from religious symbolism. Through the process of psychic automatism and free-association, she is interested in the possibilities of imbuing spirituality into an object and in the material qualities of religious or spiritual objects and spaces. Payne explores how information is both lost and gained through the transition from drawing and painting into three-dimensional works, notably ceramic sculpture. Often deploying a reptile skin, Payne's ceramics are intended as hybrid objects, a reminder of the fluidity and shared qualities between humans, animals, the natural world and inanimate objects, questioning material hierarchies and values. This process seeks to build an aesthetic dialogue and personal visual language as a meditative interaction. A recurring theme in her work is highlighting the incongruity between ancient materiality and modern technology.

Her solo exhibitions include Imaginary Artefacts, AG Projects, London, 2017; Drawing into Space, 71a Gallery, London, 2017 and Love Objects, Annin Arts via 5th Base Gallery, London, 2016. Payne’s recent exhibitions and residencies include Villa Lena, Tuscany, 2019; Fibra, Oaxaca, 2019; Disir, Kristian Day, London, 2019; Into the Soft, C4 Projects, Copenhagen, 2019; Something Else, Victoria Gallery, Samara, Russia, 2018; Papercuts by Kristian Day, Saatchi Gallery, London, 2018; Something Else, Triumph Gallery, Moscow, 2018; Wild Encounters, Guest Projects, London, 2018 and HOT MILK, Post_Institute, London, 2018 amongst others.