Curated by Claire Milner

York, United Kingdom

Claire Milner has created art for celebrity clients, large corporations, advertising and publishing companies. She originally worked as a graphic designer and illustrator and this background influences her current artworks which are in private collections around the world. Her Swarovski artwork has recently come to global attention with much international media coverage and her work is regularly published in books and magazines.

Claire specialises in original artwork, exclusively made with SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS and painting/mixed media images embellished with crystals. She creates art in any subject requested but is especially known for her distinctive style in portraits of people and animals. Her interest in portraiture began many years ago when she was commissioned to produce portraits of Gordon Brown and Nigel Lawson. A member of the British Association for Modern Mosaic, Claire has researched portraiture in mosaics dating back to the Greek, Roman and Byzantine eras. She expresses her own images in a contemporary Pop Art style even though they are the result of a meticulous study of ancient techniques. She tries to avoid photo-realism in her portraits believing this is best left to the realm of photography, drawing instead on her experience as an illustrator to bring an extra dimension to her artworks in order to achieve her own characteristic and individual style - a charming amalgam of realism and Italian comic book art, and variously influenced by De Lempicka, Klimt, Gaudi, Lichtenstein, Warhol and the Ruskin quote "Art is not a study of positive reality, it is the seeking for ideal truth."

Highly collectable and increasing in value, whatever the subject matter, one can return to Claire's work again and again and have a new experience each time.

• Total Items: 10

Categories: Mixed Media