Eloïse Dethier-Eaton

 

Eloïse Dethier-Eaton is a Belgo-British artist based in London. Her practice includes painting, paper marbling, printmaking, and photography. Her work over the past few years has been concerned with the cultural history imbued in patterns, clothes and textiles. 

She looks at the entire spectrum of fashion production and consumption, from the negative effects of fast fashion to the restorative potential of slow fashion, repair, care, and attachment for our clothing. The artist also explores circularity and recycling, as in the "Riches to Rags" series, which mimics the bundles of clothing sorted into different colours in recycling centers. The idea is to create paintings as units so that each painting is one bundle and they can all be put together to create stacks of clothing bundles. Her pictorial style follows the tradition of trompe-l'œil. To depict worn, torn, and mended textiles, she has increasingly been making use of the properties of paper—cutting, tearing, folding, and crumpling it—alongside the illusionistic techniques of painting.

 

The series "Work in Progress" is a collection of double-sided paper cut-outs hanging from pegs on a line. They depict tattered garments with traces of paint, stains, tears, and mending as if they are drooping under their own weight. The title refers to the inherent connection between these garments and labor. Historically, they were all worn by workers, and labor was involved in producing and continuously repairing them. These garments are the physical embodiment of the time, care, and skill that went into ensuring their durability.

 

Eloïse has participated in several group exhibitions across London, including shows at the Art Pavilion, Copeland Gallery, Bankside Gallery, hARTslane Gallery, and Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair. She graduated with an MA in Fine Art at City & Guilds of London Art School in 2023 and is currently the Decorative Surfaces Fellow at the School, with the support of the Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers.