About the work

Still life is at the heart of Milroy’s practice: in the 1980s her paintings featured ordinary objects depicted against an off-white background. Subsequently her imagery expanded to include depictions of objects within settings, as well as landscape, architecture, people and the body. As her approaches to still life diversified, so did her manner of painting, giving rise to a range of stylistic innovations. In recent years Milroy’s focus has been on installation-based paintings that often feature a performance component. Throughout her practice, Milroy has been fascinated by the relation between stillness and movement, and the nature of making and looking at painting.

Date and country of birth

1959, CA

About the artist

Born 1959 Vancouver, Lisa Milroy lives and works in London. Graduated from St Martin’s School of Art, London (1979); and Goldsmiths College, University of London (1982).

Through the subjects of still life, landscape, architecture and portraiture, Milroy explores the themes of making, looking, touch and transformation in her paintings.

Her work is held in public and private collections including Tate, London; Arts Council Collection, London; FRAC Occitanie Montpellier; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Porto; Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Selected solo exhibitions include Ensemble/Together, FRAC Occitanie Montpellier (2020); Same & Different, One Off Contemporary Art Gallery, Nairobi (2020); Subjective Objective, m2 Gallery, London (2020); Here & There: Paintings by Lisa Milroy, Parasol Unit, London (2018); Still life – Lisa Milroy and Jayne Parker, A.P.T Gallery, London (2018); Handmade – Paintings by Lisa Milroy, One Off Contemporary Art Gallery, Nairobi (2018); Cloth, The Retreat/Mansur Farm, Ahmedabad (2017); and Out of Hand, Laure Genillard Gallery, London (2017). Selected group exhibitions In the Moment, Beningbrough Hall Gallery and Gardens, York (2020); RA Summer Exhibition 2019, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2019); The Best of the Fukuoka Art Museum – This is Our Collection, Fukuoka Art Museum (2019); Drawing Biennial 2019, Drawing Room, London (2019); Modern Art Revisited, Tottori Prefectural Museum and touring (2018); Treasures from the Home, Blaafarvevaerket (Cobalt Works and Mines), Åmot (2018); Le Rêve de la Fileuse, Musée Fabre, Montpellier (2018); Criminal Ornamentation: Yinka Shonibare MBE curates the Arts Council Collection, Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester and touring (2018); Meticulous Observations and Naming the Money, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2017); and Nature Morte, Guildhall Art Gallery, London (2017).

Awards include the John Moores Painting Prize (1989); D&AD Silver Award for the most Outstanding Illustration in Graphic Design (2000); and the Hugh Casson Drawing Prize (2004). Milroy was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts (2005).