MEET THE ARTIST…

Annalisa Merrilees is a painter working in Edinburgh, Scotland. She graduated from Gray’s School of Art in 2018 and returned as their Painting Graduate in Residence (2022-23). Her work is hypnotically colourful and aims to evoke an experience for the viewer, emulating her frame of mind while creating the work. Using strict sets of routines for each painting, where random and deliberate acts portray a visible struggle between control and chaos, the work appears at first to be mechanically made but reveals itself to be the product of a careful hand. 

Merrilees has shown work in multiple group shows across the UK, participating in Royal Scottish Academy’s Annual Exhibition 2023. Her first solo show, “Frame of Mind”, opened May 2019 at Upright Gallery, Edinburgh, and in October 2023 held her Residency exhibition, “Pictures that were not Pictures” at Gray’s School of Art. Merrilees was selected for Turps Art School’s Correspondence Course (2020/21) and her painting “34811”, 2018 can be found in The RGU Art and Heritage Collections. She was longlisted for Contemporary British Painting Prize 2022 and shortlisted for the Freelands Studio Fellowship 2024/25.  

STUDIO 43