Pam Glew is a British mixed media artist born in 1978, best known for her distinctive large-scale portraits painted directly onto vintage fabric and flags. Her technique is entirely her own: she sources aged textiles, dyes them dark, then paints using household bleach applied in multiple layers with sponges and brushes, washing, drying, and repeating the process up to ten times to coax out
the image. Fabric inks and pigments are then used to add colour and further detail. The result is portraiture that feels embedded in the material itself, as if the subject has always been there beneath the surface, revealed rather than painted. The use of found textiles, dressmaking patterns, vintage denim, and heirloom cloth is a deliberate reference to the scarcity of women artists in the history of art, a thread that runs through much of her portrait work.
Her portrait commissions and collaborations have reached a wide and varied audience, including work for Armani and Ralph Lauren, and a notable collaboration with legendary photographer Terry O'Neill. Her portrait Afghan Girl appeared on the front cover of Le Monde, and her work has been featured in the Daily Mail, the Evening Standard, Qvest Magazine, and The Independent, among others.
Born in Cornwall and based in Brighton, Glew has shown in 14 solo shows and over 150 group exhibitions internationally, exhibiting alongside Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, and Peter Blake. She has shown at Dallas Contemporary and the Honolulu Museum of Art, and at major art fairs in London, New York, Miami, and Seoul. She is also co-curator of Paxton and Glew Gallery in Brighton's Lanes.
