August Sundays 31/08
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Izzie Beirne
Craig Coulthard
Emre Özakat
This week’s August Sundays brings together three artists whose practices explore the intersections of clarity, distortion, and cultural memory. Each revealing how layered references—whether mythic, digital, or cinematic—can be reimagined into dreamlike, speculative spaces that question how we see, remember, and feel.
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Izzie Beirne
Working primarily with painting and ceramics, Izzie Beirne’s practice deals with feminist themes of women’s safety, sexual violence and trauma, internalised punishment and then recovery and a reclamation of pleasure. Beirne’s process begins by making films which act as reference points for her paintings. From these films Beirne finds stills to transform into paintings. Through painting they evolve as their own work, becoming more open to interpretation.
Izzie Beirne (b. 1996, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK) lives and works in London. She received her BA in Fine Art from Leeds Arts University (2019) and her MFA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, University of London (2023). She was awarded the Almacantar Award and studio residency in 2023 and has been shortlisted for several prizes including the Mosaic Award (2025), Robert Walters Prize (2023), and Acme Award (2023). Recent exhibitions include Pick It Out Of Your Teeth Afterwards, The Second Act Gallery, London (2025); Human After All, Moosey, Norwich (2025); Mosaic Award, Gathering, London (2025); Food as Origin, Twilight Contemporary, London (2024); A Feast For The Eyes, Guts Gallery, London (2024); CAN Art Fair, Ibiza (2024); South Open 2, OHSH, London (2024); Serving Gluttony, Unit, London (2024); Visceral, Plan X, Milan (2024); and Buffer 2, Guts Gallery, London (2023).
Izzie Beirne
I like a load of glasses around it highers the tone, 2024
Oil on canvas
40 x 25cm
Izzie Beirne
You can't make me wait, 2024
Oil on canvas
190 x 40cm
Craig Coulthard
Often drawing from historical imagery and cultural symbolism, Craig Coulthard's paintings explores the layering of time, history, and narrative through a blend of graphic and traditional techniques. Influenced by the surrealism and pop art, he describes his work as existing “between diagram and dream.” His compositions collapse and reconfigure time, placing historical motifs into unfamiliar, dreamlike settings.
Craig Coulthard (b. 1980, UK) lives and works in Edinburgh. He received both his BA (2002) and MFA (2006) from Edinburgh College of Art. Recent solo exhibitions include Literature & Fun Places, Texture Gallery, Manchester (2025). Recent group shows include Ring of Truth, Blackie House Museum, Edinburgh Art Festival (2025); Mepaintsme Open Call Exhibition, online (2023); and Dusk Contemporary Art Festival, Alentejo and Algarve, Portugal (2023).
Craig Coulthard
Castlerigg Stone Circles Clarifies the Context for the BMW 2002, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 45cm
Craig Coulthard
A Wrestling Match Between That Which Is Seen & That which is Felt, 2022
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 45cm
Emre Özakat
Emre Özakat examines the life cycle of digital images—how they circulate, fragment, and take on new meanings over time. He is drawn to images that exist in a state of transition: low-resolution artefacts, viral snapshots, and forgotten visuals that resurface in unexpected ways. Through painting, the rapid consumption of these ephemeral images is slowed down, translating them into physical forms that demand slower engagement. Blurring, layering, and abstraction removes the image from its original context, raising questions about time, memory, and perception in an age of constant image circulation.
Emre Ozakat (b. 1991) lives and works in Amsterdam. He completed a BA in VAV/Moving Image (Audiovisual Art) at Gerrit Rietveld Academiein, Amsterdam (2020). Recent exhibitions include CAN Ibiza (with Enari Gallery), Ibiza (2025); Scroll, Capture, Forget, Gallery van Fanny Freytag, Amsterdam (2025); Lacunae, Josilda da Conceição Gallery, Amsterdam (2024); Fabricated Love, Enari Gallery, Amsterdam (2024); Springboard Art Fair, Utrecht (2023); and [Dis]comfort Food, The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague (2022–2023).
Emre Özakat
Ancient Wheel Toy & Computer, 2025
Oil on linen
180 x 20 cm