Alice Cescatti

NEW ZEALAND PAINTER

Alice’s unique practise involves a rarely seen water-gilding process, with which she has mastered different ways of describing light.

Read more

Alice Cescatti grew up in New Zealand. Fascinated by the interaction between the dramatic landscapes and intense light of the South Pacific, she appreciated the land’s remoteness and the quality of its vast, uninhabited space.

She studied fine art at Ilam Arts School in New Zealand, subsequently settling in London. There she studied interior design and completed an apprenticeship with Rupert Bevan in the restoration of gilded and painted furniture. She then devoted several years to teaching painting and gilding techniques in Vietnam for a prestigious international furniture company, while also working as a freelance gilder in Europe.

Alice’s water-gilding process is extraordinarily complex, requiring the application of many initial layers of sanded gesso and clay onto wooden panels. This is followed by applying individual leaves of silver or gold onto the clay surface using a specialist method dating back to ancient Egyptian tomb paintings… some of the earliest historical evidence of gold being beaten into leaf. The gold or silver surface is then hand-burnished with an agate stone to enhance the quality of the metal as a light source.

Upon arriving in the UK Alice instinctively gravitated towards locations that combine a sense of wilderness with intense light and colour, such as the coastal areas around southern England and East Anglia. She has also found inspiration in the landscapes of Flanders and the South of France.

2020 Shortlist, Visual Art Open UK and International Artist Award

2019 Joint winner, People's Choice Award, Royal Arts Prize Exhibition, London

2011 - 2018 Surface Art, London

2017 International Prize Dante Alighieri, Peschiara del Garda, Italy

International Award Francisco Goya, Grand Theatre del Liceu, Barcelona

Carravagio Award, Rome

Milan International Art Award

Galerie Annee, Haarlem, The Netherlands

Biennale d’Arte Peschiera del Garda

Biennale Barcelona, Museum of European Art, Barcelona

Sale del Bramante, Piazza del Bramante, Rome

Summer Small Fine Art, Royal Opera Arcade Gallery, Pall Mall, London

InArte Werkkunst Gallery, Berlin

Biennial of Contemporary Art, Diocesan Museum Francesco Gonzaga, Mantova, Italy

 

Previous
Previous

Martin Bowden

Next
Next

Melanie Cormack-Hicks