Liz West

I am a Manchester based visual artist working towards my first solo exhibition ‘Chroma’ due to take place at BLANKSPACE, Manchester in July this year (5 – 29th July). A Special Edition accompanying exhibition catalogue will also be produced, limited to just 100 copies. The exhibition will include a number of large-scale, ambitious, site-specific installations, made especially for this show.

I make intensely coloured installation, video and photographic works from arrangements of found materials and consumer goods. In my work objects are densely arranged in orders or enclosed within constructed spaces, such as cupboards and shelves or in containers such as shopping trolleys and cabinets to form compacted colour masses or gradations.

I am interested in the aesthetic of densely packed and richly coloured arrangements and displays found in shops, markets and museums. In my work, I create sensory experiences in the form of richly saturated installations that immerse the viewer in a kaleidoscopic or optical environment.

Systems of ordering, classification and coding are applied in the development and generation of work. Boundaries are established, which determine both what is collected and where it is collected from. I continually search for and collect coloured objects ranging throughout the spectrum. Only purely coloured objects are gathered, disallowing any items that were made of more than one colour. I am concerned with the psychological influence of colour, its effect and sensory impact upon the viewer.

Liz West was born in Manchester, England in 1985. She studied at Glasgow School of Art, where she gained a BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art (2004-2007). Since then she has exhibited both nationally and internationally. Previous solo exhibitions include: The Hive, Manchester (2010) and Vic Gallery, Glasgow (2007). Previous selected group exhibitions include: Northern Futures Award, Barnsley (2010), Centre for the Urban Built Environment, Manchester (2010), The Invisible Dog, New York (2010) Stew Gallery, Norwich (2010), Bedfordbury Gallery, London (2010), The Minerva Gallery, Chicester and Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh. Liz West currently lives and works in Manchester.