Artist statement

Liz Dawson paints and draws shallow-relief constructions based on both self-built paper models and imaginary diagrams. She is fascinated by the potential of these media to combine different visual languages within a single image.

Her paintings begin with elements taken from maps and diagrams. Using these as a starting point, she builds small paper models in the studio and makes lines in pastel and paint, which then become her source material. In the finished works, these two- and three-dimensional elements are meticulously reproduced in paint: each painting includes both trompe l’oeil renderings of three-dimensional paper objects and equally illusionistic painted copies of two-dimensional drawn lines. Alongside these careful translations, she incorporates genuine, spontaneous brushstrokes.

Her drawings share this intense focus on surfaces but are constructed without specific source material. Within them, she separates the formal language of the diagram from its informational function, retaining the appearance of communication without conveying specific information.

Education

Royal College of Art, MA Painting, 2002 – 2004
Winchester School of Art, BA (Hons) Fine Art: Painting, 1995 – 1998

Selected exhibitions

Unreliable Narrators, Work Room, Los Angeles (forthcoming 2026)
SuperSoftSkills: Berlin Edition, Axel Obiger, Berlin, 2026
SuperSoftSkills, Kunsthaus Essen, Essen, 2026
Madness and Practice, Axel Obiger, Berlin, 2026
To Be Announced, El Hub, Mexico City, 2025
Phantom Ghost, Oficina de Arte, Mexico City, 2025
Die Obiger Galaxis: Welteninsel, Axel Obiger, Berlin, 2025
SAP Space @ Juxtapose, Aarhus, Denmark, 2025
yardt SALE vol. 2, SAP Space, Berlin, 2025
Observing Systems, GEH8, Dresden, 2025
Layer Cake, Axel Obiger, Berlin, 2024
yardt SALE vol. 1, SAP Space, Berlin, 2024
X, ZF Projektraum, Berlin, 2023
Freiwillige vor!, nachtspeicher23, Hamburg, 2023
The Method of the Moment, Small Talks Art Space Lab, Berlin, 2022
Emotions & Relations, ZF Projektraum, Berlin, 2022
II III X #3, nachtspeicher23, Hamburg, 2018
Silent Auction, The Drawing Hub, 2017
fragment, Werkstadt, Berlin, 2016
Ausdauer, nachtspeicher23, Hamburg, 2015
Underlying Structure, Kunstraum E, Leipzig, 2015
The Producers Art Fair, Hamburg/Harburg, 2014
Likeness, Galerie in Stadtzentrum, Schenefeld, 2013
Ridley Road Open Studios, London, 2011 and 2010
National Art Open, The Minerva, Chichester, 2009
Barbican Arts Group Open, 2009
Zoo Art Fair, One in the Other, London, 2007
Incorporate, Arts and Business, London, 2007
Pulse Art Fair, One in the Other, New York, 2007
Toronto Art Fair, Frost and Reed, Toronto, 2006
The Miniature Worlds Show, Jerwood Space, London, 2006
Merry Echo Cooling Spot, One in the Other Gallery, London, 2006
Peculiar Encounters, ECArtspace, London, 2005
Second Nature, Blyth Gallery, London, 2005
New Romantic, The Hospital, London, 2005
Platform 100, ING Bank, London, 2004
Common Ground, Chambers Gallery, London, 2004
Apthorp 2001, touring exhibition, London, 2001
Trust Us, The Florence Trust, London, 2000
Rentrée, Stanley Picker Gallery, London, 1999