jess de zilva - biography

keenly interested in psychology, jess de zilva’s artwork aims to represent emotions and the human psyche through the human figure. staring figures, drawn in allegoric poses, inhabit abandoned spaces and suggest covert narratives. she portrays an “existing reality, which lies beyond the physically accessible world, a seemingly unreal world, but one that very much exists in the subconscious and unconscious every one of us can find” (mag. albert ruetz, department of arts and culture, feldkirch, austria, 2009. translated from german.)
born in london to a sri lankan father and liechtensteiner mother, jess was raised in london and liechtenstein. she spent her early years in a multicultural environment, surrounded by musicians, artists and a fair share of inspiring chaos that came with the lifestyle of her father’s work in the music business.

having completed her foundation art studies in switzerland she graduated from camberwell college of arts in 2004 with a bachelor in fine art/ painting. after graduation she studied specialist paint finishes and the art of faux painting.

following her fascination with the old masters she is currently studying the traditional portrait techniques of the old masters with the intention of bringing an element of classical portraiture and style to her surreal paintings and working more from nature.
jess de zilva has exhibited in various london venues, including the muse gallery and the artsdepot as well as in austria, switzerland and liechtenstein. collaborations include multidisciplinary projects ranging from creating scenography for video production and performing in the multimedia productions half tone at the truman brewery and three shades of true, performed at the shoreditch town hall. jess has produced drawings for the daily liechtensteinische volksblatt as well as for the book “s hundertölfer buach” that was published in november 2015.