Christina Symes
b.1994, London
www.christinaartist.com
christina@christinaartist.com
Christina Symes is an award-winning UK based artist with paintings in international collections. Her practice strives to stimulate the viewers’ awareness of their own environment, specifically their engagement with nature.
Through her painting, she shares her own experience of liberation through nature. This offers her a form of escapism, peace and solitude, in contrast to complexities modern life can bring. She combines realistic, enhanced and imaginary elements, using bold, amplified colours and divergent tonal values. By incorporating silhouettes of anonymous and isolated figures facing away from the viewer, a sense of mystery and curiosity can be generated. The figures are stripped of identity and personality to direct the viewer’s focus firmly on the figure’s relationship with its surroundings. She aims to reflect a narrative of the mental dialogue between human and nature, and hopes this dialogue enhances the importance of our natural environment, our personal engagement with it and the benefits it can bring to our wellbeing.
Education
2018-2019
MA Creative Entrepreneurship (First Class Distinction) - University of East Anglia
2014-2017
BA (Hons) Fine Art: Painting (2:1) - Wimbledon College of Arts
2013-2014
University of The Arts London Foundation Diploma in Art and Design - Sussex Downs College
Courses/Programmes
2017-2018
Clyde & Co Art Award Professional Development Programme - 2017-18, Clyde & Co Law Firm, St Boloph Building, Houndsditch, London
2012
Portfolio Preparation Short Course - Chelsea College of Arts, London
Watercolour Intermediate Course - 2012-13, Tunbridge Wells Adult Education Centre, Kent
Oil Painting Intermediate Course - 2012-13, Tunbridge Wells Adult Education Centre, Kent
Solo Exhibitions
2021
Solo Exhibition - Hydro Hotel, Eastbourne, ongoing
2019
Liberation Through Nature - Menier Gallery, 5th-10th August, London.
Group Exhibitions
2021
Newhaven Open Call, 11th-26th September, Ship Hotel, Newhaven
2018
Salon des Refusés - Candid Arts Trust, 7th-10th June, Islington, London
Clyde & Co Art Award, London Collection - September 2017 - August 2018, Clyde & Co Law Firm, St Boloph Building, Houndsditch, London
2017
Wimbledon College of Arts Fine Art: Painting Degree Show - Wimbledon College of Arts, 16th-24th June, Wimbledon, London
109 Nails – Copeland Gallery, 9th-12th March, Peckham, London
2016
Creatives Gallery – July - August, Tunbridge Wells, Kent
Mind Map – The Gallery on the Corner, 3rd-6th May, Battersea, London
2015
Capsticks Exhibition – Capsticks Law Firm, 2015-2016, Wimbledon, London
2014
Foundation Diploma Show - June 2014, Sussex Downs College, Eastbourne
Awards/Competitions
2021
Wildcard Artist - Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year, Eden Project, Cornwall
2020
Prize for Outstanding Performance by a MA Creative Entrepreneurship Student, University of East Anglia, Norwich
2018
Clyde & Co Scholarship Award - Clyde & Co Law Firm, St Boloph Building, Houndsditch, London
Shortlisted: Royal Academy Summer Exhibition - Royal Academy of Arts, London
2017
Staff Vote, Clyde & Co Art Award - Clyde & Co Law Firm, St Boloph Building, Houndsditch, London
2006
Art Exhibition Award - Roedean School, Brighton
Articles
Clyde & Co Art Award Winners Announced:
http://artawards.clydeco.com/art-blog/clyde-co-art-award-winners-announced-auction-launched/
Artistic Insight - Christina Kim-Symes:
http://artawards.clydeco.com/art-blog/artistic-insight-christina-kim-symes/
Wimbledon Alumni Shortlisted for Clyde & Co Art Award:
http://blogs.arts.ac.uk/wimbledon/2017/12/04/10-wimbledon-alumni-shortlisted-for-clyde-co-art-award-2017/
Christina Kim-Symes - Invest Now:
https://newbloodart.com/blog/christina-kim-symes-invest-now/
Notable Presentations of Work
A limited-edition print of her 2016 oil painting titled ‘Estonia – Before the Storm’ was presented to The Most Reverend Urmas Viilma, Archbishop of Estonia, at his visit to the Diocese of Rochester, Kent, in 2017, to mark the 2017 celebration of the special partnership that exists between these two countries churches. The painting is from a series she created during a visit to Haapsalu, Estonia in 2015 and the original currently hangs framed in the House of Commons.
