Elena Rivera-Montanes (b.1998, Frimley) is a British painter based in London. She received her BA (Honours) in Fine Art: Painting from Wimbledon College of Arts and was awarded the Prunella Clough Residency Prize upon graduating. Rivera-Montanes has exhibited in multiple group shows, most recently The Painted Room at GRIMM, Amsterdam, curated by Caroline Walker.
Primarily exploring themes of time, loss, and observations of life, Rivera-Montanes depicts interior and domestic spaces that are often familiar to her. Constructed through a nostalgic colour palette, she stitches together memories, overlooked moments and personal history to tell stories, prompting the viewer to perceive the paintings in relation to their own lives or experiences. Although many of the paintings are devoid of figures, the work in fact conveys friends and family who inhabited these spaces, remembered through belongings, objects and their sentimental value. Evoking a familiarity most can respond to, the work floats between the past and present. With reference to photographs she has taken herself, or found in her family album, Rivera-Montanes collages these liminal spaces to form fragmented moments in time, which explore the ambivalence between the places and people she can remember and what has been forgotten. Through the process of painting these moments, she aims to mirror how we recall, blur and rewrite our memories. For enquiries please contact elenariveramontanes@gmail.com EDUCATION
2017-2020 • BA (Hons) Fine Art: Painting, UAL Wimbledon College of Arts 2016-2017 • Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, The University for the Creative Arts, Farnham SELECTED GROUP SHOWS 2024 • WOAW Gallery, Singapore • Four-Folds, Lychee One Gallery, London 2023 • The Painted Room, GRIMM Gallery, Amsterdam • Colour, Texture, Substance, No Name, Warbling, London • Only When This Cigarette Is Ended, Pictorum Gallery, London • The Angel in the House, Studio West Gallery, London • International Women’s Day, Art on a Postcard, Fitzrovia Gallery 2022 • Confirmed Touch, Safehouse 1, Peckham, London • Fine Art Alumni 2020 Exhibition,UAL,Chelsea College of Arts, London 2020 • Degree Show, UAL Online Showcase, Wimbledon College of Arts, London • Penultimatum, Copeland Gallery, Peckham, London AWARDS/RESIDENCIES 2021 • The Prunella Clough Residency Prize (2020) UAL, Wimbledon College of Arts |
© ELENA RIVERA MONTANES 2023