Mary Jane Ansell

Mary Jane Ansell is a previous finalist in the prestigious BP Portrait Award in 2004, 2009, 2010 and 2012 and has been selected several times for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition and The Threadneedle Prize. Based in the UK she shows internationally with recent group and solo exhibitions in London, New York, Singapore and LA. 

Her works feature in private and public collections world wide including commissions for the permanent collections of National Portrait Gallery UK, Brighton and Hove Museums and the Joe Lewis Collection.

Her work has featured on the covers of numerous magazines including American Art Collector and a number of recent novels, including New York Times bestselling author Tiffany Baker’s Gilly Salt Sisters and on Adam Ant’s recently released album: Adam Ant is The BlueBlack Hussar In Marrying The Gunners Daughter.

Ansell's work draws influences from a multitude of inspirations, her sitters become characters imbued with a narrative that develops collaboratively as she works with them, at times autobiographical or in response to current complexities of politics and gender, drawing too from the language of classical portraiture with an appreciation of refined techniques that evoke the past but with a resolutely modern viewpoint. 

After 25 years living near to the sea in Brighton UK she and her partner moved to the dramatic scenery and isolation of North Wales, near Snowdonia. An area rich in ancient legend and inspiration.

* This statement has been provided directly by the artist in association to their 15^th International ARC Salon entries. This content has not been edited for typos or grammatical errors and has not been vetted for accuracy.