Jack Penny
Biography
Jack Penny (b. 1988) is an English artist whose work is characterized by a rich use of symbols and figurative storytelling. A trained illustrator, his keen eye for scenic and character design is apparent in his larger-than-life genre paintings.
Penny’s creative process has a sacred, almost ceremonial approach. He begins with a series of flurried sketches; each page – a beautiful work in its own right – fashioning itself to another to form a compelling story. Inspired by artists such as Edouard Vuillard and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and illustrators like Ralph Steadman, Penny aims to flow in sync with his paintings. A single, multifarious gesture takes him from sketch to final painting, mimicking the spontaneity and movement of the scenes he creates.
His animated figures, populate canvases teeming with bold, kinetic motion. This theatrical approach reflects the stress of urban life from the perspective of someone completely removed from it, mirroring Penny’s move from London to a quieter rural life.
Within each dynamic stroke hides a heavy intentionality. Penny’s concern is never technical bravado, but rather childlike earnestness and intuitive mark making. He aims to harness the organic, free-flowing nature of artmaking while actualizing a highly considered thematic concept. His Swimmers series, ideated during the pandemic, captures energetic poolside scenes tinged with an unsettling undercurrent As a motley crew of poolside players splash and swirl in cerulean waters, viewers are hit with a simultaneous wave of Rococo-adjacent frivolity and an underlying sense of mania, apprehension, and anxiety. This style of interplay and juxtaposition is at the heart of Penny’s thematic practice.
Jack Penny lives and works in Bosham, West Sussex.
Penny’s creative process has a sacred, almost ceremonial approach. He begins with a series of flurried sketches; each page – a beautiful work in its own right – fashioning itself to another to form a compelling story. Inspired by artists such as Edouard Vuillard and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and illustrators like Ralph Steadman, Penny aims to flow in sync with his paintings. A single, multifarious gesture takes him from sketch to final painting, mimicking the spontaneity and movement of the scenes he creates.
His animated figures, populate canvases teeming with bold, kinetic motion. This theatrical approach reflects the stress of urban life from the perspective of someone completely removed from it, mirroring Penny’s move from London to a quieter rural life.
Within each dynamic stroke hides a heavy intentionality. Penny’s concern is never technical bravado, but rather childlike earnestness and intuitive mark making. He aims to harness the organic, free-flowing nature of artmaking while actualizing a highly considered thematic concept. His Swimmers series, ideated during the pandemic, captures energetic poolside scenes tinged with an unsettling undercurrent As a motley crew of poolside players splash and swirl in cerulean waters, viewers are hit with a simultaneous wave of Rococo-adjacent frivolity and an underlying sense of mania, apprehension, and anxiety. This style of interplay and juxtaposition is at the heart of Penny’s thematic practice.
Jack Penny lives and works in Bosham, West Sussex.
Exhibitions
