About

Epoh Beech’s work is a unique fusion of myth, memory and imagination. She reaches deep into the unconscious, both her own and that of her audiences, aiming ultimately to stimulate a healing process of synthesis. 

Influenced by the early Italian Renaissance and the German Romantics, Beech’s art seeks for the sublime through the balance of colour and light. It is imbued with symbols and archetypes, which give it a magical, dreamlike quality. She is fascinated by the life of images, several of which appear repeatedly in her work, notably Pegasus the winged horse, and Hermes the time-travelling grey seal, who initially came to her in a dream.

The concept of the journey is central to Beech’s creations. Indeed, her entire body of work can be seen as one ever-evolving journey, in which the same images and motifs are placed in different contexts and explored through media ranging from charcoal drawing to hand-drawn animation and latterly wallpaper design. On a micro level too, her central characters are typically engaged in journeys. She is exquisitely sensitive to resonances between different times and places, which she brings together in mesmerising and unexpected ways. 

Beech is particularly drawn to rivers, which she sees as powerful conduits to the imagination. They can themselves be viewed as perpetual journeys, linking disparate places and literally able to transport us from one to the other. 

Rivers, journeys and spiritual connections between different times and places are at the heart of Beech’s animations The Marriage of The Thames and The Rhine (2010) and the award-winning The Masque of Blackness – Reimagined (2018).  Her latest project, The Pegasus Papers (2024) Please see Artist’s Statement, extends the narrative of these animations, using many of the same characters and motifs (Pegasus, Hermes, the carousel, the Jacobean theatre on the Thames). But this time, a very different medium is used – wallpaper. This requires more of the imaginative work to be done by the viewer, which is precisely Beech’s intention. Inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, ancient Chinese scroll paintings, and narrative French Toile de Jouy Wallpaper, she invites us to animate her four hypnotic designs for ourselves.

Biography

Epoh Beech studied as a fine artist at Studio Simi in Florence, Italy, at Cheltenham Art School and Chelsea College of Art. She has an MA in Art Therapy from the University of Hertfordshire and works out of the ACAVA studios in West London. Her award winning hand-drawn animation The Masque of Blackness – Reimagined  (2018) was monumentally projected onto The National Theatre Flytower on London’s Southbank in September 2018 as part of The Thames Festival. 

Text by Johnny Acton