To cut through our cyncism and give images again the power to disturb is quite a feat; that Semple manages it via the medium of paint is even more impressive. His approach is summed up by the famous line from They Live: “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass… and I’m all out of bubblegum”

– Jonathan R Jones, Modern Painters

In the show’s centerpiece, A Love Song’s Not Enough, made of acrylic and spray paint on canvas, and spanning six-by-ten feet, a boxer slumps with half-closed Byzantine eyes in a tumble of marble-pale skin, haunting a divided picture plane of greys and distressed rainbows above acres of gestural abstraction, like cake frosting marshland.

– Shana Nys Dambrot 

 

You can see elements of this journey through the exhibition; the terror and power of the medical environment; the boundless curiosity and humour that drives his practice; the dark places visited enroute and the generosity of an artist whose work challenges walls, encourages dialogue and continues to laugh in the face of death.

– Lee Cavaliere

 In Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker (2013) for example, the journey across Moonriver in the song of the same name is illustrated at its close, where the Huckleberry friend has come to the end of the rainbow – a place where hope and treasure are expected – to find just an amusement arcade instead called ‘Rainbow’s End.’

– Clare Hazelton

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Stuart Semple is a multidisciplinary British artist whose practice spans painting, performance, internet art, and installation. His works adopt a sociological lens to explore themes of youth politics, mass culture, image, technology, and anxiety. Often activist in nature, his broader projects frequently strive for fairness, equality, and access, particularly within the arts.

Semple has enjoyed numerous solo exhibitions worldwide and has presented projects at international institutions, including the Denver Art Museum, The Whitworth, Barbican, Hong Kong Arts Center, and Dulwich Picture Gallery. He is the author of “Make Art or Die Trying,” published by Quarto. Semple regularly speaks on art and mental health, with appearances at Oxford University, The Southbank Centre, Frieze, RCA, and the ICA

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Recent exhibitions, commissions, publications and press

Stuart Semple + Amnesty + Boxpark

On 1st December Stuart will host a live-art-letter-writing event in the Amnesty Shop @ BOXPARK. This is Amnesty’s first retail concept store and also features a large scale print collaboration with Stuart. In the lead up to  Human Rights Day (10th December) Amnesty...

Freedom From Torture Auction

                    Freedom from Torture’s 2011 Art Auction sees leading visual artists unite to raise funds to support the organisation’s work with survivors of torture, the vast majority of whom have fled countries...

Polemically Small presented by The Future Can Wait now open

THE FUTURE CAN WAIT presents: Polemically Small Curated by Zavier Ellis, Edward Lucie-Smith, Max Presneill & Simon Rumley   DOVE Watercolour, monoprint & acrylic on Saunders Waterford cold pressed paper Paper size: 29.7 x 42 cm (A3) Image size: 0.8 x 0.8...

Piers Secunda now open at Aubin Gallery

Taliban Relief Paintings and Crude Oil Silk Screens New works by Piers Secunda 17th November - 24th December 2011     Piers Secunda’s distinct studio practice has pushed the development of paint as a fully operational sculptural material for fifteen years....

Remembering Gerald Laing (1936 – 23 November 2011)

image: DOMESTIC PERSPECTIVE 2008 Oil on canvas 68.5 x 33 irregular inches     I don't normally blog personal things but Gerald Laing passed away today, I'm distraught,  it's so weird sometimes you feel like you've got forever... and you forget, you see I...

Making ‘On The Twelve Thrones’ physical

How it all began... About a year or so ago I got a message from Jamie, I'd not heard from him for a bit, we'd met a while ago outside Rough Trade in Brick Lane, he helped me strap a load of bin bags to the roof of the...

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