SD - EW — Parallel Form

THE SIT DOWN
14: ELLA WARNER

Ella Warner (b. 2003) is a London-based painter who graduated from Goldsmiths in 2025 after three years studying Fine Art. Her path there wasn't entirely straightforward; initially set on one of philosophy and psychology at university, she had to make the case for art during lockdown. This was a conversation she won, the prize being a foundation year at Kingston, which tore apart every preconception she had – a complete reset that meant she arrived at Goldsmiths with a clarity of energy.

Three years at art school sharpened things further. Her early work saw refined, bright creatures, or ‘Globulars’, in an imagined landscape, but her practice has shifted considerably since. Whilst completing several works for a solo show at the end of her second year, she felt numbed to the repetition of these creatures, and desired more from the canvas, paint and process. Warner is quick to acknowledge that her relationship to failure was formed during this time and has continued as an important part of her process.

Her paintings today are composed of figures commenting on the known and unknown self, existing on a sliding scale of human recognition. She is interested in their relationship to each other, often viewing the figures as abstract marks reacting with one another. They are spatially confident yet aware of others, caught in the gazes between bodies sharing a space. She works quickly, following her hand, and is unusually attuned to the moment a painting is finished.

Alongside the paintings, she writes — not as a separate practice but as part of the process itself. Writing in the third person, as though observing the work from outside herself, she narrates each painting as it develops. It functions as a running self-commentary, a way of thinking out loud whilst stepping back from the canvas.

Warner has shown in London and beyond, including a solo exhibition at Mount House Gallery in 2024 and group presentations at ASC Gallery in collaboration with the London Design Festival and with AOAP Projects at the Bomb Factory in Marylebone.