Jane Ward is a British artist known for her modernised Romantic collages born from layering reconstituted landscape photographs with ink, watercolour and other digital media. Jane Ward studied an MA in Printmaking at the Royal College of Art, graduating in 2007. She then went on to win the Terence Conran Foundation Award and the Tim Mara Prize and has since enjoyed critical acclaim for her works.
Jane’s Artistic Style
Although Romantic in style, there is something unarguably 21st century about Jane’s work. Her collages present a profusion of imagery, a multiplicity of fragmented perspectives, and an almost disorientating use of colour, all of which speak to our increasingly digital existence.
Jane’s Practice
Jane deconstructs her own photographs of aerial mountain views, industrial complexes and open city vistas before reconstructing them. She then combines hand-applied chemical erosion to dissolve image detail as well as layers of ink and watercolour, calling into question the true scale and proportion of her landscapes and, in turn, creating surrealist, dreamlike scenes. Works such as digital prints Bridge 4 and Mountainous 6 require the same mental gymnastics needed to deal with the daily deluge of information we’re all so used to, all the whilst harnessing the observers’ need to organise the chaos into a picture that they can rationalise.
Collections and Exhibitions
Jane’s collages have been showcased across the globe. Recent residencies include: CPS Lisbon, Galeria dos Prazeres, Pedra Sina Residency and No.72 John St. She has also completed a solo exhibition at Foyles Gallery in Charing Cross, James Freeman Gallery, Printroom, London, and exhibited at Opere Scelte, Turin. Her work has been featured in art shows including the leading London Art Fair.