Gwen Ovshinsky

My love of painting grew out of my interest in art history. Following studying for a degree and an MA in art history from Birkbeck College London I became a student at the Essential School of Painting and this is where I am continuing my painting studies.

My paintings often incorporate visual references or themes from art history, especially mythological paintings, as well as referencing popular culture, such as folk tales, fairy stories, and imagery from popular media. My work is figurative, and my interest is in expressive and imaginative responses to these narratives, often using a magical realist style. My aim is to present my subject matter as something that feels magically transformed from the everyday. I aim to exploit the possibilities of a different visual aesthetic from ‘objective’ depictions of reality, an alternative aesthetic that reflects complex psychological and social narratives. In addition I work with imagery reflecting the current crisis of climate change, environmental destruction and species extinction.