Liz Dawson paints and draws shallow-relief constructions based on both self-built paper models and imaginary diagrams. She is fascinated by the potential of these media to combine different visual languages within a single image.
Her paintings begin with elements taken from maps and diagrams. Using these as a starting point, she builds small paper models in the studio and makes lines in pastel and paint, which then become her source material. In the finished works, these two- and three-dimensional elements are meticulously reproduced in paint: each painting includes both trompe l’oeil renderings of three-dimensional paper objects and equally illusionistic painted copies of two-dimensional drawn lines. Alongside these careful translations, she incorporates genuine, spontaneous brushstrokes.
Her drawings share this intense focus on surfaces but are constructed without specific source material. Within them, she separates the formal language of the diagram from its informational function, retaining the appearance of communication without conveying specific information.
Vita / CV
Liz Dawson lives and works in Berlin.
Education
2002 – 2004 Royal College of Art – MA Painting
1995 – 1998 Winchester School of Art – BA (Hons) Painting
Selected exhibitions
2026
Unreliable Narrators, Work Room, Los Angeles (forthcoming)
SuperSoftSkills: Berlin Edition, Axel Obiger, Berlin
SuperSoftSkills, Kunsthaus Essen, Essen
Madness and Practice, Axel Obiger, Berlin (with Lucy Teasdale)
2025
To Be Announced, El Hub, Mexico City
Phantom Ghost, Oficina de Arte, Mexico City
Die Obiger Galaxis: Welteninsel, Axel Obiger, Berlin
SAP Space @ Juxtapose, Aarhus, Denmark
yardt SALE vol. 2, SAP Space, Berlin
Observing Systems, GEH8, Dresden
2024
Layer Cake, Axel Obiger, Berlin (with Andrea J. Grote, Yuki Jungesblut, Vivian Eckstein and Hans-Peter Stark)
yardt SALE vol. 1, SAP Space, Berlin
2023
X, ZF Projektraum, Berlin
Freiwillige vor!, nachtspeicher23, Hamburg
2022
The Method of the Moment, Small Talks Art Space Lab, Berlin
Emotions & Relations, ZF Projektraum, Berlin
2018
II III X #3, nachtspeicher23, Hamburg
2017
Silent Auction, The Drawing Hub, Berlin
2016
fragment, Werkstadt, Berlin
2015
Ausdauer, nachtspeicher23, Hamburg
Underlying Structure, Kunstraum E, Leipzig
2014
The Producers Art Fair, Hamburg-Harburg
2013
Likeness, Galerie in Stadtzentrum, Schenefeld
2011
Ridley Road Open Studios, London
2010
Ridley Road Open Studios, London
2009
National Art Open, The Minerva, Chichester Barbican Arts Group Open
2007
Zoo Art Fair, One in the Other, London
Incorporate, Arts and Business, London
Pulse Art Fair, One in the Other, New York
2006
Toronto Art Fair, Frost and Reed, Toronto
The Miniature Worlds Show, Jerwood Space, London
Merry Echo Cooling Spot, One in the Other, London
2005
Peculiar Encounters, ECArtspace, London
Second Nature, Blyth Gallery, London
New Romantic, The Hospital, London
2004
Platform 100, ING Bank, London
Common Ground, Chambers Gallery, London
2001
Apthorp 2001, Touring Exhibition, London
2000
Trust Us, The Florence Trust, London
1999
Rentrée, Stanley Picker Gallery, London
1998
Liz Dawson – Recent Paintings, Tower Arts Centre, Winchester