Lisa Traxler CV/Biography
Lisa Traxler RWS, MRSS, LG (b. London, 1965) is a contemporary British artist based on England’s South Coast whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting and sculpture. Through an ongoing exploration of structure, geometry, colour and space, she investigates the potential of painting to extend beyond the confines of the picture plane and occupy physical, three-dimensional environments. Rooted in observation, her work develops through systems, grids and geometric frameworks that are subsequently disrupted by intuitive and material-led processes, generating dynamic relationships between form, surface and perception.
Drawing on a background in fashion, design and visual culture, Traxler creates works that move between two and three dimensions, examining the intersections of architecture, landscape, memory and the built environment. Her practice is characterised by a dialogue between precision and improvisation, where constructed forms become sites of visual enquiry.
Traxler is an elected member of the Royal Watercolour Society, the Royal Society of Sculptors and The London Group. She has received multiple Arts Council England awards and has exhibited extensively throughout the UK and internationally, including solo exhibitions at Southampton City Art Gallery, Pangolin London and The Foundry Gallery. Her work is held in public collections including Southampton City Art Gallery, the Royal Watercolour Society Diploma Collection, London, and the Fabriano Museum, Italy, as well as private collections throughout the UK, Europe, and the United States.
Born: London. Studied: Croydon Art College, Birmingham Polytechnic , BA Hons Fashion and Textiles.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Outer Space, Five Windows, Pangolin London
2022 Time Traveller, Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton
2021 Blast Wall, The Foundry Gallery, Chelsea, London and The Bunker, IW
2021 Dazzle and Disrupt (duo) West Gallery, Quay Arts, IW
2018 Start 18 International Sculpture Network (duo) the Bunker, IW
2017 Build, Penwith Gallery, St. Ives, and Surface Matter, London Design Festival, Hackney, London
2014 Decade, West Gallery, Quay Arts, IW. and Apthorp Gallery, Artsdepot, London
2012 Lives of Spaces, West Gallery, Quay Arts, IW. and ExCel, London
2009 Studio 22, Artspace studio award exhibition, Portsmouth
2008 Letters Home, Portsmouth Grammar School, Portsmouth Cathedral,
Eldon Gallery, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Union of Watercolour, Y Gaer Museum, Brecon, Wales
2026 Small Wonders, South Quay Gallery, Norfolk
2026 The London Group Annual, The Handbag Factory, London
2026 RWS Permanent Exhibition, Royal Watercolour Society Gallery, Whitcomb Street, London
2026 City Reflections – Illuminating Southampton’s Stories: Projection Trail, Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton
2025 Personal Relations: The London Group Touring Exhibition, What Art Can Do, Amsterdam
2025 Linden Hall Winter Show, Linden Hall Studio, Deal, Kent
2025 The London Group Open, Copeland Gallery, Peckham, London
2025 The Shapes of Water: RWS Autumn at Bankside Gallery, London
2025 The London Group at Linden Halle Studio, Deal, Kent
2025 From Nature For Nature: Barkitecture at Goodwood, West Sussex
2025 Back To The Cave, The Full Spectrum: Gallery Pangolin, Clearwell Caves, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire
2025 Out Of The Cave – Above Ground: Gallery Pangolin, Chalford, Gloucestershire
2025 RWS Spring Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London
2025 The London Group at Whitcomb Street, London, WC2
2024 Small Things with Big Ideas, White Conduit Projects, London, curated by Paul Carey Kent & Yuki Miyake
2024 Sculpture Source Group Show, Pangolin London, Kings Cross, London
2024 RWS Autumn Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London
2024 Stillness in Movement: The London Group, Bermondsey Project Space, Bermondsey, London
2024 RWS at Linden Hall Studio, Deal, Kent
2024 Transparency: Royal Watercolour Society, Bankside Gallery, London
2024 The London Group: 111 Not Out, Quay Arts, Isle of Wight
2024 Concrete Castles Touring Exhibition, Royal Engineers Museum, Kent
2023 New Acquisitions, Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton
2023 The London Group Open 2023, Copeland Gallery, Peckham, london
2023 Fifteen, Pangolin London, Kings Cross, London
2023 No Place Like Home, ArtHouse Jersey, Jersey, Channel Islands
2023 The London Group at Linden Hall Studio, Deal, Kent
2023 Aesthetica Art Prize, York Art Gallery, York (finalist)
2022 The London Group at Bankside Gallery, Southbank, London
2022 Biennial International Prize, Fabriano Watercolour 2022, Museum of Fabriano, Italy
2022 Reflections, Royal Watercolour Society, Spring Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London
2022 Paradoxes, Contemporary British Painting, West Gallery, Quay Arts, IW
2021-22 Concrete Castles, Cornwall Regimental Museum, Bodmin, Coleshill National Trust
2021 Trace Elements, The Factory Project, Silvertown, London, curated by Rosalind Davis, produced by Thorp Stavri
2020 In Search of a New World, Southampton City Art Gallery Biennial Open Exhibition (winner)
2019 The London Group Open, Cello Factory, London (winner of sculpture award)
2019 Parallel Lines: Drawing & Sculpture, the Ingram Collection, Royal Society of Sculptors, The Lightbox, Surrey.
2018-19 Dazzle: Continuing the Art of Disruption, Southampton City Art Gallery
2018 Dazzle: Disguise & Disruption in War & Art, St. Barbe Museum, Lymington, curated by Steve Marshall
2017 The London Group Open, Cello Factory, London
2017 Drawing for Sculpture, 20-21 Visual Arts Centre, North Lincolnshire
2017 Future Landscapes, Borders Project, ItsLiquid Group, Palazzo Ca’ Zanardi, Venice
2017 Stimulus, Art Number 23, The Greenhouse, Berlin
2016 The Drawing Process, the Philip Schlee Collection, West Gallery, Quay Arts, IW
2015 Space Interrupted, English Heritage, Arts Council England, Fort Brockhurst, Gosport,
curated by Clare Sheppeard
AWARDS
2025 Daler-Rowney Award, Winter Group Show, Linden Hall Studio, Deal, Kent
2023 Finalist, Aesthetica Art Prize
2022 A-N Bursary Time, Space, Money, research award
2021 Arts Council England Project Grant: Blast Wall solo exhibition and project
2020 Arts Council England Project Grant: Dazzle + Disrupt, duo exhibition
2020 Southampton City Art Gallery Open Exhibition, Winner, Southampton
2019 Jeff Lowe Sculpture Award, London Group Open, Cello Factory, London
2019 Boarhunt Plinth Award, Little Forest Land Art, Hampshire, Winner
2017 Adrian Henri Painting Award, NAPA National Exhibition, St.Ives
2014 ProArte Painting Award, NAPA National Exhibition, St. Ives
2012 Colart Painting Award, NAPA National Exhibition, St. Ives
2009 Artspace Studio Award, Southsea, Portsmouth
2008 Artist in Residence, Portsmouth Grammar School, Portsmouth
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2025 Back To The Cave, The Full Spectrum, exhibition catalogue, essay Rungwe Kingdon, Clearwell Caves. ISBN 978-0-9570417-8-3
2023 Outer Space, exhibition catalogue, Pangolin London. ISBN 978-1-3999-5724-3
2022: Time Traveller, exhibition catalogue, foreword Polly Bielecka, Pangolin London, essay Paul Carey-Kent, Southampton City Art Gallery. ISBN 978-1-8384699-2-4
2022 Paradoxes 52 Painters, Contemporary British Painting, Quay Arts, IW, essay Paul Carey-Kent, ISBN 978-1-7397818-1-1
2021 Concrete Castles, exhibition catalogue, Ghosts in the Landscape essay and artworks, ISBN 978-1-80068-001-2
2021 Blast Wall, exhibition catalogue, foreword Tim Craven, essay Jillian Knipe, The Foundry Gallery, London, ISBN 978-1-912821853
2021 Dazzle and Disrupt, exhibition catalogue, essay Jillian Knipe, West Gallery, Quay Arts IW, ISBN 978-1-912821938
2014 Decade, exhibition catalogue, foreword Peter Davies, West Gallery, IW & Apthorp Gallery, London
2012 Lives of Spaces, exhibition catalogue, essay Jonathan Parsons, West Gallery, IW & ExCel, London, ISBN 978-0-9571308-7
COLLECTIONS + PUBLIC ART
2025 Hiding In Plain Sight, Kennel Sculpture, Barkitecture, Collection of Goodwoof, Goodwood, West Sussex
2022 Ghost Echo, Public Art Sculpture, commissioned by ArtHouse Jersey, Channel Islands,
in conjuction with No Place Like Home exhibition, originally exhibited Jersey War Tunnels
2022 Time Traveller Transformation 1 and Industry, sculpture and print, Collection of Southampton City Art Gallery
2022 Geometry of Light, painting, Museum of Fabriano, Italy
2019 I Am Not Afraid, wall sculpture, Mountbatten Hospice, IW
2016 Cloud Collecting, installation, Generation ART, The Curve Gallery, Quay Arts, IW
2011 Transition, wall sculpture, Stourbridge Art & Design College, West Midlands
2011 Take Wing, wall sculpture, Vestas Technology Centre, IOW
2008 The Hilsea Series, paintings, Portsmouth Grammar School, Portsmouth