Miriam Escofet was born in Barcelona. She moved to England with her parents aged 12. Being the daughter of artists (her father is the painter Jose Escofet) she grew up in an environment full of art.</p> She attended Brighton School of Art where she studied a 3-D Design course, her rationale being that she has always loved the ‘making process’ and has always been fascinated by the three dimensional & and textural qualities of objects. The painting evolved on leaving Art College, as a way of exploring more complex themes. “Drawing and making are still at the core of the work, but painting allows me to invent other spaces and ideas with no physical constraints.” Her work is completely figurative and incredibly detailed, reflecting one of her main influences – art from the gothic and renaissance period. “I find in these richly visual works a whole other reality of mystical worlds that are completely fascinating and extraordinary. It’s like opening a door into a hyper real universe.” She is also influenced by by art and architecture of the classical period, when aesthetics and proportion were thought to communicate eternal and divine truths and art was considered a physical depiction of the divine. Her work explores ideas of aesthetics, imagination and symbolism. She has recently been drawn to allegorical and archetypal themes and the idea of magical landscapes and archaic pasts. Miriam Escofet has exhibited in London and Paris, including seven solo exhibitions. Her portraits have been selected for the BP Portrait Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery three times.