About the artist
About the artist
Rosemary Burn is a British figurative painter based in the UK. Her works have been exhibited widely in Italy, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom and are held in several notable collections, including that of the iconic fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, the film maker Colin Trevorrow, and the American comedian and actor Dana Carvey.
Rosemary’s works have been included regularly in prestigious exhibitions such as the RA Summer Exhibition, ING Discerning Eye, Royal Institute of Oil Painters exhibition, Royal Society of Marine Artists, Society of Wildlife Artists, Figurative Art Now, and Wells Art Contemporary. She was shortlisted in 2023 for the Artgemini Prize, and longlisted in 2024 for the Women in Art emerging art prize. Rosemary has also shown at several international art fairs in Florence, New York and Paris and collaborated with three contemporary playwrights with a solo exhibition in London.
Education - Rosemary studied sculpture at Chelsea School of Art, London, gaining an MA in fine art. She also studied the piano at Trinity College of Music, London, achieving a performer’s diploma in the piano.
Artist Statement
When I look at the history of art I see a tapestry woven with human life - its conflicts, wonder, boredom, moments of silence, thoughts... corners from the minds of the artists who created the artworks. I am aware of this within my creative process, and I see much of my painting as a meditation, a pondering on the seemingly everyday or mundane.
Along with portraits and landscapes, I am more often than not drawn to painting still life. Although it is perhaps just painting ‘stuff’, I love its humility, and its implied human content - what is perhaps hovering beyond its parameters; a human element notable by its absence.
There is a certain poetry to be found in a dripping bath tap and the light carried in the ripples, a fly on the wall, the fleeting expression on a face, a nameless place. It seems to me that these happenings underpin our existence; big events, highs and lows, come and go but the insignificant and fleeting remain and repeat, like a constant hum in the background.
The nature of each brushstroke, and the texture of the paint also play an important part in the translation of the seen, into a blurring between the representational and the semi abstract, the patterns which often escape our notice. I work every day searching for an alchemy between paint, subject and moment. When I studied at Chelsea School of Art I was making sculpture, but the intention behind the work was similar. Works from those times include a bicycle abandoned on its side with its back wheel perpetually turning, so the scene of an accident was kept alive for an infinite length of time, a remote controlled leg of lamb, a huge flying saucepan which had come to rest skewered by the sword of a swordfish held upright by a fisherman (both plaster casts).
Although my life is a busy one with many commitments - I am also a classical pianist, (and I teach the piano and violin), not being creative in some way every day has never been possible for me. I love every minute!
Solo Exhibitions
2021, Amalgam, The Space Theatre, London
1991, City Racing, London
Awards, publications
2024 On reserve list for the RP Critical Writing Prize
2024 Longlisted for the Women in Art Emerging Art prize
2024 Zandra Rhodes portraits from private sitting
2023 Shortlisted for the 10th Art Gemini Prize
2023 2nd place runner up, Teravarna Gallery 7th landscape international competition
2023 2nd place runner up, Teravarna Gallery international artist grant awards
2023 Interview with James Thomas, BBC Radio Wiltshire
2023 Collectors Art Prize
2023, Featured in Pomegranate magazine, London
2022, Wells Art Contemporary awards
2021, Featured in Arterynyc online gallery
2020, Featured in House and Garden magazine
2020, Artist of the future award, Contemporary art curator magazine
2002, Featured in the book ‘City Racing, the life and times of an artist run gallery’
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 Society of Wildlife Artists exhibition, ‘The Natural Eye’, Mall Galleries London
2024 Royal Society of Marine Artists exhibition, Mall Galleries London
2024 Danger Zone, Aedra Fine Arts, online
2024 Pensychnant Open Exhibition
2024 Artcan exhibition ‘Fiesta’, Inky Fingers Gallery, London
2024 Shh, the Artcan secret auction, online
2024 Gallery representation, Opulent Art Gallery/ Artsy
2024 Art on a postcard, The Bomb Factory, Covent Garden London
2023 ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries London
2023 SWLA 60th anniversary exhibition, The Natural Eye, Mall Galleries London
2023 10th Art Gemini Prize finalists exhibition, Zari Gallery London
2023 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
2023 Anniversary 10x10 ArtCan, Hansard Studio, London
2023 Chroma 2 Artcan, America Square Conference Centre, London
2023 The Power of Pencil, Artcan 10th anniversary exhibition
2023 Figurative Art spring exhibition, Open Gallery Halifax
2022 Royal Society of Marine Artists, Mall Galleries London
2022 Wells Art Contemporary, Wells Cathedral
2022 Green and Stone Summer Online Exhibition
2022 Art in Mind, Brick Lane Gallery, London
2022, Paris International Art Fair
2022, Artexpo, New Yotk
2022, Contemporary Art Masters Virtual Art Fair
2022, Van Gogh Gallery, Madrid
2021, Figurative Art Now, The Federation of British Artists, Mall Galleries, London
2021, Gallery representation, Tom Zaw Fine Art, Hoddesdon, Herts
2021, Gallery representation, Alessandro Berni Gallery, New York
2021, Reflections, 3 person show, Arte Borgo Gallery, Rome
2021, Infinite Dreams, Contemporary Art Curator Magazine
2021, Canvas - Mixing Identities, London International Art Fair, THE LINE, contemporary art space, London
2020, Royal Institute of Oil Painters exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2020, Shortlisted to exhibit at the BP portrait award, National Portrait Gallery, London
2019, Royal Institute of Oil Painters exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2019, Florence Biennale, Fortezza da Basso, Florence
2018, Royal Society of Oil Painters exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
2018, Gallery representation, New Blood Art
1990, Group exhibition, The Showroom, London
1990, Group exhibition, Art Now, London
1990, 27 Artists before the roof falls in, Art East, London
1990, Christie's Inaugural, Christie's, London
1984, International Garden Festival, International Garden Festival, Liverpool
