Judith Dean
Judith Dean’s (b. 1965, United Kingdom) paintings question ways in which we look at images and art. Using her non-writing hand to reflect on control exerted by the conscious mind, Dean makes paintings that explore perspective and the singularity of the mind’s eye. Ideas of illusion - abstract, figurative, stylised and not - both inhabit and faux-frame the compositions as receding stages or galleries. Using the contingency of memory, found images from the Internet, personal photos, a 17th Century Chinese painting manual and through the practice of Hua Gong, Dean creates pictorial environments that reveal possibilities for exchange.
Dean lives and works in London, UK. She studied at Wimbledon School of Art, London (1988), and the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam (1993). Selected recent exhibitions include New Builds / Bilds 2: Did You Mean Peace?, South Parade (London, UK, 2025); One Thing and the Others, Bodenrader (Chicago, USA, 2024); New Builds / Bilds (The Image in Perspective), South Parade (London, UK, 2023); and June Art Fair, with South Parade (Basel, Switzerland, 2023). Dean was awarded the Jerwood Sculpture Prize in 2005 and served as Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol, from 2008 to 2024.
@dean.judith