Jane Couroussopoulos studied painting, etching and engraving at City and Guilds of London Art School. She moved to Edinburgh 36 years ago where she has a studio in Coburg House, Leith. She works as a painting tutor and drawing course leader for Leith School of Art and Paintbox School of Art in East Lothian, and until recently as a community education tutor for Edinburgh City Council.
She travels widely as often as possible, particularly to Greece where her family are originally from, and it is from these journeys, both abroad and in Scotland, and from objects collected during these journeys, that she finds her subjects.
Jane is interested in depicting and deconstructing space in her carefully composed work. She builds up layers of colour and texture in her paintings using oils on plywood, and uses collage, oil pastel and pencil in her works on paper. Her images encourage viewers to spend time with everyday subjects, which often sit amongst a series of complex, sometimes abstracted shapes. Contrasts are key - compositionally, they lie in the juxtaposition of busy and empty areas, flat and textured surfaces, and directly observed elements alongside the invented. In terms of the narrative, the contrasts are found in the tension between the objects and the abstraction of the space around them: organic and man-made structures, and in the landscapes and cityscapes, they are found in the representation of urban and rural spaces emptied of people.