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Exhibition Launch - CPAOH Emerging Artists Initiative presents… Jonny Kemp
Launching the inaugural exhibition series for the Crystal Palace Artists’ Open House Emerging Artists Initiative.
Featuring recent work by portrait artist Jonny Kemp.
Join us in person on Friday, 17th January at the Picturehouse for the launch of this free exhibition profiling a creative whose art tends to casts a sardonic sideways glance at the overlooked banalities of life and asks, “what makes us accept the way things are?”
No need to RSVP. Just turn up!
Produced in partnership with the CPAOH and West Norwood Picturehouse.
Proceeds from all sales go towards the artist’s growth and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.
CPAOH Emerging Artists Initiative presents…
CPAOH Emerging Artists Initiative presents… Jonny Kemp
In 2024, the Crystal Palace Artists’ Open House launched the Emerging Artists Initiative - a programme supporting the next generation of creative talent, a platform for those actively studying (either formally or self-led) for a career in the creative arts. Each selected artist had their application fee waived, materials and framing sponsored and a space provided by a host venue to show their work over both weekends of the open house. In addition, they received an hour’s mentoring, delivered by a professional artist, and the promise of an exhibition in 2025 with charity partner Packed Lunch.
Jonny Kemp was one of the selected artists for the CPAOH Emerging Artists Initiative 2024.
Jonny lives in South East London. Graduating with BA in English in 2011, he worked as an English teacher until July 2023, leaving to pursue a new career as an artist.
Largely self-taught, he managed to take advantage of more time during lockdown to hone his craft. From there, he started to publicise his work online and at local art markets and fairs.
Alike to great literature, he thinks we should be able to see ourselves in painting and drawing. We might not like what we see, but it should be recognisable. For Jonny, the best art casts a sardonic sideways glance at the overlooked banalities of life and asks, “what makes us accept the way things are?”
More recently, he has depicted changemakers fighting for an optimistic, fairer alternative, whose work is often vilified or overlooked. Exploring transcription, such as Renaissance depictions of religious figures, allows him to imbue his subjects with the same symbolism and veneration for people who labour and suffer for their cause.
He has explored the importance of community through his South Drawood exhibition, celebrating the people of South Norwood, London, his local area. These were drawn in his distinctive style of fine liner pen.
In 2023, he was a contestant on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year, drawing the BAFTA-winning actor Lenny Rush.
Jonny is now studying for an MA in Fine Art at City and Guilds London School of Art.
www.jonnykempart.co.uk | @jonny_kemp_art
A free exhibition with proceeds from all sales going to the artist’s growth and funding public programmes in advancing and diversifying engagement in visual storytelling.