Jane Merfield

Jane Merfield completed her BA in Fine Art at the University of Brighton in 2001 and won both the Open University Purchase prize and the Alan Davies Prize in the same year. After travelling extensively and living abroad for several years she returned to her native Sussex and has recently focused on painting once again.

Jane Merfield’s technique is almost entirely abstract focusing on a very distinctive relationship of contrasts. An underlying tension is created between the physical materiality of the painting and the relief work planted on top, the areas of reflective and non-reflective surface employing matt and gloss paint, the balance of light and shadow. The subject matter is emphasised by these contra-distinctions and certain key elements and ideas re-emerge in Merfield’s work. Trees, clouds and areas of space, freedom and aspiration are set alongside imagery of houses, nets and cages creating a sense of entrapment and claustrophobia. The starting point of her work may be a manmade structure witnessed in natural surroundings, remembered for its other-worldly atmosphere or a small event whose emotional impact resonates beyond the moment. Using a soft, fresh palette, the relief work and rippling textures further emphasise the dreamlike, surreal quality of the paintings alongside the symbolic and underlying content in her work.