The physically powerful, expressive works capture the Ranson’s hunger and desire for greater recognition and a rebalancing of female representation and voices within abstract painting — adding to the growing conversation around reclaiming and rearticulating women’s voices. Imagery taken from the artist’s everyday experiences, patriarchal pasts and presents, memories, surroundings, ancient landscapes and other sources are manipulated and abstracted via a seemingly digital process, resulting in a hand-made abstraction. The interrogation of colour, layering, motif, pattern and application of paint simultaneously creates new environments and reflections on the world around us.
Ellen Ranson (b.1996) is an abstract painter who lives and works in the North East of England. She was Paint Fellow at Northumbria University (2018), British Council Venice Fellow (2022) and is shortlisted for the Contemporary British Painting Prize 2023.
CV
Solo Exhibitions
2023
Moonlight Dance on Warm Cement, Gala Gallery, Durham
2022
Ellen Ranson, Pineapple Black, Middlesbrough
2020
Under the Eaves, Hartlepool Art Gallery
2019
Pop Up Salon, Parapluie, North Shields
Duo Exhibitions
2020-21
PB33, Ellen Ranson and Beth J Ross, The Bank, North Shields
Group Exhibitions
2023
Contemporary British Painting Prize 2023, Thames Side Gallery / Huddersfield Art Gallery
X — Contemporary British Painting, Newcastle Contemporary Art
2022
Queer Fringe, Pineapple Black, Middlesbrough
2021
BALTIC Open Submission, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art
Somewhere Between Reality and Obscurity, The Viewing Room, UKNA, curated by Garth Gratrix (online)
2018
Connectivity, Middlesbrough Art Weekender, Middlesbrough
I Can Still (Still), Great Exhibition of the North, Newcastle
Reveal, Northumbria University, Newcastle
Ladies and Gentlemen, TESTT Space, Empty Shop, Durham
2017
The Long-er Gallery, Newcastle
Powerhouse, Conny, Consett
Abstraction, Conny, Consett
Articles and press
2023
PULSE Feature, The Crack, November 2023
UK New Artists profile
X – Contemporary British Painting (and catalogue)
2022
Interview, NARC, August 2022
2020
Interview, NARC, January 2020
2019
Interview, NARC, February 2019
Radical Gestures, Art Licks, Issue 26
Awards
2023
Shortlist, Contemporary British Painting Prize
2022
Venice Fellowship Programme, The British Council – 59th International Art Exhibition, la Biennale de Venezia 2022, Venice
2018
John Crisp Prize for Innovative Work in Painting
Self-established
Founder/Director, Conny Art Fest 2017 – 2022
Curation
2019
Conny Art Fest
2018
Ladies and Gentlemen, TESTT, Durham
2017
Conny Art Festival, YMCA, Consett
Education
2020 – 2022
MA Fine Art, Distinction, MIMA School of Art, Teesside University
2015 – 2018
BA (Hons) Fine Art, First Class, Northumbria University
Skills & Experience
- Project management
- Technique tuition: painting
- Workshops (family / general)
Ellen Ranson, 'Untitled (Marcello)', 2022
Ellen Ranson, 'Charline', 2022
Ellen Ranson, 'White Ink', 2022
Ellen Ranson, 'sixteen sixty eight', 2022
Ellen Ranson, '3 Euro Spritz', 2022
Ellen Ranson, 'Unfolding', 2023
Related Organisations
No More Nowt
County Durham