268. Sharon Elphick - Circles and Squares

2026
Collage
15 x 18cm (unframed) 29 x 32cm (framed)

Sharon Elphick is a London-based artist and educator whose recent work explores pattern, colour, and collage through the use of found ephemera. Working with vintage magazines from the 1950s and 1960s, she constructs precise geometric compositions by hand-cutting individual elements with stencils and assembling them with meticulous attention to detail.

The works presented for the RSA draw on the distinctive colour palettes found in the advertisements of Life magazine. Structured using the golden ratio — a mathematical principle associated with balance and harmony in art and design — the compositions recontextualise nostalgic imagery, inviting viewers to reconsider the visual language of the past through colour, repetition, and form.

Elphick completed a PGCE in Secondary Art & Design at Goldsmiths, London (2015–2016), following a BA in Textile Design from Liverpool John Moores University.

Her extensive exhibition history includes Multiplied Art Fair at Christie’s, London (2011); Affordable Art Fair, Paris (2009) and New York (2004); RHS Chelsea Flower Show, London (2009); Drawn Together at The Prince’s Drawing School, London (2008); Origin at Somerset House (2006); 100% Design London (1998–2006) and Tokyo (2005); Surface Structure Shape at Axis Gallery, Tokyo (2005); Flock ‘n’ Roll at the Geffrye Museum, London (2004); Living Britain at The British Council, Tokyo (2001); and numerous solo exhibitions in London, Tokyo, Paris, and Nottingham.

Awards include the British Crafts in Japan award (2003), the Peugeot Design Awards (2001), and a Crafts Council Bursary (1998). Her work is held in collections including the V&A, the Museum of the Home, the Courtauld Institute, and the collection of Sir Elton John.