Sian Egan (b. 1993) paints from her cabin nestled in her English country garden, amongst the towering trees of oak, birch, plum and hazel.
Egan's work is rooted in her emotional response to colour and her deep connection to the natural world. She draws inspiration from wayward stems, the delicate structure of leaves, sacred geometry, the rhythm of swirling winds and the ancient symbolism of spirals and labyrinths.
Egan visually deconstructs these narratives through fractal structures, geometric abstractions, and gestural passages as a method to study colour and materiality. Her large-scale oil paintings are drenched with a patchwork of intoxicating hues, featuring saturated and translucent pockets.
Prior to her life in the countryside and after receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Egan spent seven years exploring the materiality of oil paint, pulling shapes and landscapes out of fluid oil. Continuing her exploration with oil, she now works with oil monoprinting and oil on large-scale linen.
Each work expresses the inherent painterly qualities of oil, as well as celebrating the materiality of the linen weave or handcrafted wooden frames which subtly reveal their woodgrain. Thin washes of oil reveal the weave of the linen, creating almost tapestry-like paintings. The imperfect, reductionist marks of monoprinting mirror the delicate and poetic qualities of nature. Egan’s most recent work pulses with gestural swathes of impasto oil, creating tactile and light-catching textures.
Egan's work continues to reference light, from luminous limpets, shimmering fronds and fluorescent pigments. Her most recent paintings and monoprints depict the ephemeral beauty of glowing stems, during golden hour in her garden — fleeting moments when her garden transforms into pure light and colour.