Alice Cescatti
NEW ZEALAND PAINTER
Alice’s unique practise involves a rarely seen water-gilding process, with which she has mastered different ways of describing light.
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Alice Cescatti grew up in New Zealand. Fascinated by the interaction between the dramatic landscapes and intense light of the South Pacific, she appreciated the land’s remoteness and the quality of its vast, uninhabited space.
She studied fine art at Ilam Arts School in New Zealand, subsequently settling in London. There she studied interior design and completed an apprenticeship with Rupert Bevan in the restoration of gilded and painted furniture. She then devoted several years to teaching painting and gilding techniques in Vietnam for a prestigious international furniture company, while also working as a freelance gilder in Europe.
Alice’s water-gilding process is extraordinarily complex, requiring the application of many initial layers of sanded gesso and clay onto wooden panels. This is followed by applying individual leaves of silver or gold onto the clay surface using a specialist method dating back to ancient Egyptian tomb paintings… some of the earliest historical evidence of gold being beaten into leaf. The gold or silver surface is then hand-burnished with an agate stone to enhance the quality of the metal as a light source.
Upon arriving in the UK Alice instinctively gravitated towards locations that combine a sense of wilderness with intense light and colour, such as the coastal areas around southern England and East Anglia. She has also found inspiration in the landscapes of Flanders and the South of France.
2020 Shortlist, Visual Art Open UK and International Artist Award
2019 Joint winner, People's Choice Award, Royal Arts Prize Exhibition, London
2011 - 2018 Surface Art, London
2017 International Prize Dante Alighieri, Peschiara del Garda, Italy
International Award Francisco Goya, Grand Theatre del Liceu, Barcelona
Carravagio Award, Rome
Milan International Art Award
Galerie Annee, Haarlem, The Netherlands
Biennale d’Arte Peschiera del Garda
Biennale Barcelona, Museum of European Art, Barcelona
Sale del Bramante, Piazza del Bramante, Rome
Summer Small Fine Art, Royal Opera Arcade Gallery, Pall Mall, London
InArte Werkkunst Gallery, Berlin
Biennial of Contemporary Art, Diocesan Museum Francesco Gonzaga, Mantova, Italy
Original Acid-Etched Water-Gilded Silver Leaf on Wood Panel
Image size: 120 × 120cm
£5600
Or £560 per month on Own Art payable in 10 equal interest-free monthly instalments