Luke Elwes was born in 1961 and now lives in London. He studied at Bristol University, Camberwell School of Art, and London University. In 1987, after meeting Bruce Chatwin, he went to the central Australian desert to explore its landscape and indigenous artforms, and since then has travelled extensively, discovering and revisiting remote locations in India, Asia Minor and North Africa. Since 2000 he has worked for long periods on the East Anglian coast, and was recently awarded residency grants at the Vermont Studio Center (2013) and the Josef Albers Foundation (2015) in the USA.
Since 1990 he has had 20 solo exhibitions in London, Paris and New York, as well as group shows in Europe, including Il Sud del Mondo (Palermo/Milan), Jeune Peinture (Grand Palais Paris), Gli amici pittori di Londra and Genius Loci (Bergamo Italy).
Recent shows include: Clifford Chance, London 2015; Adam Gallery, London 2014, 2012 2011; Minories, Colchester 2014; Young Museum, Salisbury 2013; North House Gallery, Essex 2012; Estorick Collection, London 2010; Browse & Darby, London 2010; Galerie Marceau Bastille, Paris 2009; Kettles Yard, Cambridge 2008; Galleria Ceribelli, Bergamo & Milan 2008; Bury Art Gallery, Manchester 2007. Luke Elwes has also written on art for Modern Painters, Royal Academy Magazine, Abstract Critical and other print & online publications. In 2011 he was invited to give an ‘Artist’s Eye’ talk at the National Gallery.