22nd June 2019

Jack Connor Kemp presents a series of paintings that juxtapose abstracted images associated with his own recent and distant past. He interweaves various references in his paintings that play on the idea of visual skeuomorphism; designed to trigger recognition and associations in the viewer. These semi-autobiographical works invite the viewer, via shared relations, to identify with aspects of his character. Jack's resource is his own collection of visual research, an archive accumulated over many years that includes his own photography, scans from collected books and vast selections from the constant feed of images and information online. The works contain a kind of subliminal nostalgia, a visual timeline or mind-map, reflecting his most current fascinations and preserving them by turning them into physical objects. The selection and use of particular images, colours and materials is intuitive. In this way, there is a symbolic relationship between the gathered visual archive and related research, each fueling the other.

Jack Connor Kemp's paintings are typically assembled digitally to begin with. They then are typically rendered and constructed from a range of methods and materials; printed textiles and dyed canvas usually form the base, followed by various layers that may be stencilled, bleached or painted. His method of painting is similar to the layers in a photoshop document. These layers sometimes have a more physical characteristic, for example he uses the paintings as real layers in our constructed world. The show entices the viewer to explore the physicality of the paintings, investigate between the layers and question the concept of representation. 

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