Group exhibitions include (Upcoming) Light is Therefore Colour, duo exhibition with Sinta Tantra, Turner’s House Museum, Twickenham, UK (2025); (Upcoming) Seeing Each Other, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, UK (2025); A Living Collection, Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield, UK (2025); Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970–1990, Tate Britain, touring to National Galleries of Scotland: Modern, Edinburgh, The Whitworth, University of Manchester (2023); Contested Bodies, Leeds University Galleries, Leeds (2023); Women and Water, Women’s Art Collection, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge (2023); Towner 100: The Living Collection, Towner Eastbourne (2023); A Living Collection, Hepworth Wakefield (2023); Group Show, Aspex Portsmouth (2023); Act 1: Body en Thrall with the Rugby Collection, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum (2022); Hockney to Himid: 60 Years of British Printmaking, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (2021); RA Portfolio Diamond Jubilee Gift, Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London, UK (2013–14); Hugh Stoneman – Master Printer, Tate St. Ives, Cornwall, UK (2008); Visual Wit, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (2004); The Contemporary Print Show Part I, The Barbican Centre, London, UK (1998); Contemporary Art at the Courtauld, Courtauld Institute, London, UK (1993); Innocence and Experience, touring exhibition organised by the South Bank Centre & Manchester City Art Gallery: Manchester, Hull, Nottingham, & Glasgow, UK (1992); Look Here Upon This Picture and On This, South Bank Centre, touring exhibition (1991–92); Postmodern Prints, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (1991); Picturing People, British Council tour to Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong & Singapore (1989); Women’s Images of Men, ICA, London, UK (1980).

 

Highlights & Collections
Elected a Royal Academician in 2001, Eileen Cooper served as Keeper of the Royal Academy from 2010–17, becoming the first woman to be elected to the role since the RA began in 1768. In 2017 and 2009 she was nominated as coordinator of the Royal Academy Summer Show. Her work can be found in prominent public and private collections such as Arts Council Collection (UK), British Museum (UK), Dallas Museum of Art (Texas), Kunsthalle (Nuremberg, Germany), The Hepworth Wakefield (UK), The Tate Gallery (UK).

Group exhibitions include (Upcoming) Light is Therefore Colour, Turner’s House, Twickenham, UK (2025); EXPO Chicago, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Chicago, UK (2025); Shadow and Void: Buddha10,ESEA Contemporary, Manchester, UK (2025); Small is Beautiful XLII, Flowers Gallery, London, UK (2024); The Geometry of Abstraction, Paul Smith Showroom, London (2024); Fates and Furies, Appetite, Singapore (2024); The 2024 Sovereign Asian Art Prize Finalists Exhibition, 9/F, Hong Kong (2024); By The Means at Hand, Pavillion of Croatia 60th Biennale di Venezia, Italy (2024); Expo Chicago, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Chicago, USA (2024); Art Singapore Art Fair, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Singapore (2024); Art Moments Jakarta, Sheraton Grand Jakarta, Gandaria City, Jakarta (2023); Where the Wild Roses Grow, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Germany (2023); Tutur Bentuk, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2023); KIWARI: Narasi Identitas dan Kefanaan, Tumurun Museum, Surakarta, Indonesia (2023); Women Group Show, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2023);  Sua Kuasa Matra, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2023); Taru Bingin, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2023); Art Jakarta Gardens, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2023); Cure 3, Bonhams, London, UK (2023); Light in Retrospective, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2022); A New Paradise, Saatchi Gallery, London (2022); Small is Beautiful: 40th Edition, Flowers Gallery London (2022); Uprising, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Berlin (2022); Reverberation, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2022); Facing the Sun, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Germany (2021); Buah Tangan, ISA, Jakarta (2020); Super Flatland, White Conduit Projects, London (202); On the Nature of Botanical Gardens, Framer Framed, Amsterdam (2020);  Reinventing Eve, Isa, Jakarta (2019); Y: Collect 3.0, Ruci Art Space, Jakarta; Woven & Illuminated (2019); Strangers in Town, Art Dubai, with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Dubai (2019); Reflections, Puerta Roja Gallery, Hong Kong (2018); Karachi Biennial, Pakistan (2019); Always Bright, Ambiente Indonesia via Isa Art Advisory, Jakarta (2018), Small is Beautiful, Flowers Gallery, London (2018); London Graphic, Thameside Studios, London (2018); Absorption as a way of Seeing, Pearl Lam Gallery, Hong Kong (2018); Elysian Fields: Sinta Tantra & Haffendi Anuar, Richard Koh Gallery, Kuala Lumpur (2018); Hornby Tantra, Works III, Broadgate, London (2018); Tetap Terang / Always Bright, ISA Gallery, Jakarta (2018); Voyage to Indonesia, The World Bank, Washington DC (2018); Empirical Atlas, Pearl Lam Gallery, Singapore (2017), High Noon, Accademia Belle Arti di Rome, Rome (2017); Acts of Transgression, Pearl Lam Gallery, Singapore (2017); Summer Mostra, The British School at Rome, Rome (2017); Identify Your Limitations, Acknowledge your Periphery, Vitrine Gallery, Basel (2017); Changing Perspective, Jogja National Museum, Yogyakarta (2017); Quotidian, Pearl Lam Gallery, Shanghai (2017); I Lost my Heart to a Spaceship Trooper, Griffin Gallery, London (2017); Spring Mostra, The British School at Rome, Rome (2017); Lost and Found: Place, Space; Identity, the World Trade Centre, Jakarta (2016); among more.

 

Sinta Tantra’s artworks can be found in international private and public collections, including Government Art Collection UK; Louis Vuitton Collection Southeast Asia; Karachi Biennale; Benetton Collection; Folkestone Triennial, Canary Wharf; Tumurun Museum, Indonesia; Museum MACAN, Indonesia. In 2024, Tantra was nominated for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize. Tantra is a recipient of many awards including the Bridget Riley Drawing Fellow at The British School at Rome (2017); Shortlisted for the Jerwood Contemporary Painting Prize (2015); British Council’s International Development Award (2014); First Prize, Painting and Decorating Industry Award (2012);The Royal British Society of Sculptors AHRBS (2012);Shortlisted for the Jerwood Contemporary Painting Prize (2010); British Council Grant (2009); Courvoisir ‘The Future 500’ in partnership with The Observer Newspaper (2009); Arts Council England (2007);  and Deutsche Bank Award (2006), The Gordon Luton Award, The Worship Company Painters Stainers Trust (2006); Michael Moser Award (2005); Paul Smith Scholarship at the Royal Academy of  Arts (2003-2006) and the Henry Moore Sculpture Fund (2002). In 2018 she received an artist residency at the Stoneleaf Retreat, New York (2018). Sinta Tantra’s work has been featured in both UK and international press including The Evening Standard, Tate Shots, FAD Magazine, The Jakarta Post and BBC Radio Indonesia. 

 

Public commissions include: Sunset Ombre, One Satrio, Mega Kunigan, Jakarta (2022); Pink Moon Rising, Seolhaewon, Gangwon-Do (2021); Temple of Flora, Ocean Flower Island, Hainan (2021); Illuminated, 22 Bishopsgate, London commissioned by Contemporary Art Society (2021); The Grand Tour, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London (2020); The Crossing Mount Daemo, The H Honor Hills, Seoul commissioned by Hyundai (2021); Poins Square, Jakarta (2020); Horizon to Horizon, Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, Sharjah (2019); Bright Dawn, Karachi Biennale, Karachi (2019); Compose Motions and Tasted Flight, Honer Hills, Seoul commissioned by Hyundai (2019); Sunset in Tanah Lot, Facebook, London (2018); Collaboration with Nick Hornby, Broadgate sites, London (2018); In the Mood for Love, Lee Tung Avenue, Hong Kong (2018); Paintworks, commissioned by Crest Nicholson, Bristol (2018); 1947, Folkestone Triennial, Folkestone (2017); Pailo Drappallone, Commune di Siena, Italy (2017); Diamond Minutes, Hana Bank, Incheon, Korea (2017); The Sound of Colour, St. Paul’s Way Medical Centre, London (2017); A Union in Partition, private commission, London (2016); A Means of Liberation, Newnham College, Cambridge University (2016); Songdo, South Korean Government, South Korea (2015); Sensory Garden, Bristol Royal Infirmary Hospital, Bristol (2015); The Eccentricity of Zero, Royal British Society Sculptors, London (2015); Greater Reality of Elsewhere, Locwus International, Swansea (2015); The Eccentricity of Zero, Royal British Society of Sculptors, Holland Park, London (2013); Together Yet Forever Apart, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool (2012); A Beautiful Sunset Mistaken For a Dawn, Canary Wharf, London (2012); A Good Time and a Half!, Southbank Centre, London (2007). Neon Tetra, CreateKX, Camley Street Natural Park, London (2007); Isokon Dreams, London Borough of Camden, Regents Park Bridge, London (2007); Line Up, Platform for Art, Piccadily Tube Station, London (2007); Emporia, London Fashion Week’s On|Off, 6 Burlington Gardens, London (2006); Party Surprise, Christchurch University, Canterbury (2006);  Tantra’s most notable public work includes a 300-metre long painted bridge commissioned for the 2012 Olympics, Canary Wharf, London.

4 June – 26 October 2025 | Turner’s House, Twickenham 
Part of Turner 250: Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of J.M.W. Turner’s Birth 

To mark this milestone year, Turner’s House unveils a bold new exhibition that reimagines the artist’s private world through a contemporary lens. Light is Therefore Colour brings together Eileen Cooper RA and acclaimed artist Sinta Tantra in an artistic dialogue with Turner’s Twickenham retreat, responding with site-specific work that explores memory, presence, and transformation. Complementing Turner’s Kingdom: Beauty, Birds and Beasts, also on view during this anniversary year, the show explores Turner’s legacy through contemporary responses to the house he designed and built as a personal retreat. 

Curated in partnership with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, the exhibition invites both artists to engage deeply with Sandycombe Lodge through painting, installation, and architectural intervention. Their work reimagines the domestic space Turner once inhabited, offering new ways of seeing his legacy through the lens of contemporary art. 

“It’s rare to enter an artist’s home and feel so much creative presence still there. I’ve tried to listen to the house, to Turner, and to its many memories—and respond with a painter’s sense of wonder.” 
— Eileen Cooper RA 

 

“This house holds both light and memory—my work aims to create a conversation with its architecture, using abstraction and surface to reflect Turner’s spirit.” 
— Sinta Tantra 

 

“We are delighted to celebrate Turner 250 with this special exhibition. Cooper and Tantra bring imagination, resonance, and striking sensitivity to the site—connecting past and present in meaningful ways.” 
— Jennifer Francis, Director, Turner’s House 

 

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION 

Eileen Cooper RA, known for her emotionally resonant, symbolist paintings, responds to Sandycombe Lodge as a space historically shaped by male presence and creative solitude. Her work introduces a powerful, intuitive energy into the house—reimagining its interiors through a lens of femininity, imagination, and myth. Figures emerge in twilight gardens; deer and symbolic forms populate dreamlike scenes that echo and soften the architecture. A glowing silhouette ascending the spiral staircase suggests quiet metamorphosis—an inward, poetic response to the house and its layered history. 

 

Sinta Tantra, internationally recognised for her vivid geometric abstraction, approaches Sandycombe Lodge through light, architecture, and spatial storytelling. Drawing on Turner’s friendship with Sir John Soane—whose design principles influenced the house—Tantra explores celestial forms, gilded surfaces, and bold colour as ways to echo Turner’s fascination with optics and transformation. Her work responds to the building as both structure and symbol, using surface, scale, and abstraction to reimagine its atmosphere. In doing so, she brings a renewed sense of vitality to the space, positioning it as a site where historical legacy meets contemporary imagination. Together, Cooper and Tantra transform Turner’s House into a site of presence and imagination—creating bold new ways of seeing the painter’s legacy in his own home.