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Jack Woolley

Jack, an artist based in London and Edinburgh, has developed a relationship with painting that investigates the overlapping notions of object, illusion, and surface – questioning the roles of the elements that make up a painting and experimenting with deconstruction and repair. What if the stretcher bars become the dominant form, hovering above a suspended canvas? What if the canvas is cut up according to its own intrinsic topography, then sewn together to reveal its latent three dimensionality? Behind this questioning movement between dimensions is a political impetus, an investigation into injustice, and fundamentally an interrogation of the gap between representation and reality. Jack’s practice of expanded painting embodies these ideas through analogous imagery and process, but also through the visibility of inverted conventions. He considers his material language with intention: along with the properties of oil and acrylic paints, he will variously weave in organic matter like bonemeal or orange peel, sailmaking techniques he learnt from his father, or architectural aggregates as a real-world texture.

Jack is also a chartered architect. Click on these links to see examples of his architectural work:

Old Workshop

Spiral House

 

Awards 

2024

Freelands Painting Prize

2024

Pure Arts Studio Award

2015

RIBA Viewpoint 

2012

Architects'  Journal Small Projects Award

Exhibitions

2024

Freelands Painting Prize winners exhibition, Freelands Foundation, London

2024

Past, Present, Future, Art Academy, London

2023

Derelict; Uncovered Collective, London

2022

I’m So Sickle Of It; Uncovered Collective, London

2012

Brit Arch: The Changing Face of British Architecture; The Architecture Centre, Bristol

1993

In The Swim; BEDG/Blueprint, Bremerhaven

1993

The Best of British Design; DTI/British Trade Commission, Hong Kong

1992

Britain Salutes Seoul: Future Visions; DTI/Design Museum, Seoul

1989

Leading Edge; Axis Gallery, Tokyo

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