Lisa Milroy
Gambling Geishas

Oil on canvas
183 x 152.5 cm

Lisa Milroy was born in Vancouver in 1959. She studied at St Martins School of Art 1977-79 and Goldsmiths' College 1979-82. She held her first group shows in London in 1983 and her first one-person shows in 1984. In 1985 and 1987 she was included in the John Moores and in 1989 she was first prize-winner in John Moores 16: the first woman to win the competition outright. In the 1990s she held one-person exhibitions throughout Europe, the USA and Japan. In 1999 she was commissioned to design one of the Royal Mail's four Millennium stamps, which won the D+AD silver award. Her most recent one-person exhibition was at Tate Gallery Liverpool 2001.

"I discovered the Geishas last January. I was trying to find a new studio, travelling around a lot looking at different places in London. The Geishas came out of nowhere, I guess to keep me company. They started off in biro, went on to charcoal, and now that I have eventually found a studio, they have ended up in oil.

I hope they stay a while as I am having fun painting them."