Lydia Janssen
Lydia Janssen was born in 1976 in Michigan, USA, and received a BA from Sarah Lawrence College in 1998. She spent a year in the Graduate Fine Arts Department at UMASS Amherst before returning to New York to study at the Art Students League (2005–07).
In 2020, her first monograph Dance to Art written by Ian Findlay-Brown, foreword by Larry Poons, and published by SKIRA, was released and later launched at Tate Modern in 2021. Selected for the 2021 London Art Biennale, Lydia received the Terme Award. Her painting Spotlight Two was acquired by the Chianciano Museum in Italy in 2022, and she was nominated for the 2023 Sovereign Asian Art Prize.
Her works are held in private collections across the US, Europe and Asia, including that of Singaporean collector Koh Seow Chuan. Lydia is represented by Susan Eley Gallery in New York City and REDSEA Gallery in Singapore.
About the image Horse, Hunter, Stag
After the success of Janssen’s Graffiti Kiss (2007), inspired by cave paintings and childhood animal shapes, Janssen tried to recreate this. The new painting felt flat, it lacked the same magnetic energy, so she set it aside to be painted over. Her husband Luke saw its potential, however, and urged her to rework it. Later, Janssen’s neighbour, the painter Charlene Von Heyl, declared it a favourite. This nearly discarded piece has become one of Janssen’s most celebrated works, purchased for London Capital Asset Management’s art collection in the UK.
