by Jennifer Maidment
A short while ago, I decided that making spreadsheets and answering phone calls probably wasn’t going to aid my career as a painter, so I moved away from London and in with my parents to save money and time: the dreaded yet common plight of the ‘Y generation’. Cleethorpes is a ramshackled, run-down sort of place. It’s not where I’d have chosen to live, nor where I grew up; but it is, for now, my corner of the world.
The paintings I am working on currently are about this ‘corner’ I occupy. I paint/draw/make obsessively, therefore, my work often reflects what is happening in my life at that particular moment in time. My overwhelming sense of Cleethorpes is that it is poor but in a way where it’s more successful history is still very evident. Our house sits directly in-between docklands and seaside resort – both not what they were in their respective heydays. As the economic and technological climate of the UK changed over past decades, this small part of the country became a neglected space. However, whilst Cleethorpes tells a sad story in part, there is also a sense of nostalgia and frivolity imbued into the aesthetic of the still existing amusement arcades, rock shops and theme park. The portrayal of life in Cleethorpes encapsulates part of UK heritage in a way that incorpoartes sadness, complexity and commercialism but also nostalgia, colour and fun in to one picture. In essence, I am just telling a story from part of my life but what my story, or experience might mean on a larger scale correlates to the state of the UK in general, if not the world.
In terms of aesthetics, I have been interested for a while in finding out whether there is a movement currently afoot that follows on from the Super Flat method of painting: using heightened colour and merging elements of graphic design, consumerism and infantile imagery into one piece of work; though differing from Super Flat art in terms of painterly technique and content. In my own work I use this same method of distracting from a serious, banal, sinister or sad (in other words, sober) subject matter by beautifying the work. I have always loved finding the colour in life, so this is also a part of what I do.
DOB:1984, Leeds
Education:
Galleries:
Affililated with http://www.degreeart.com/ and https://www.artfinder.com/artist/jennifer-maidment-629/
Exhibitions:
April 2013, Saatchi online curated feature curated by Rebecca Wilson
November 2012 The Griffin Art Prize (shortlist exhibition), The Griffin Gallery, London www.griffingallery.co.uk
March 2012 Dining Room Drawing Club, The Old Nuns Head, Nunhead, London
January 2012 Show Your Face, Cultivate Gallery, Vyner Street, London
September 2011 Nuit Blanche, Jelly Legged Chicken, Reading
July 2011 The Dining Room Drawing Club, Earth and Stars, Brighton
January 2011 The Dining Room Drawing Club, Coach and Horses, Soho, London
December 2010 The Gallery, Stoke Newington Library, London
November 2010 Ladyfest Ten, Ground Floor Left Gallery, Hackney, London
September 2010 MA Degree Show, Wimbledon College of Art UAL, London
March 2010 The Nunnery, Mile End, London
September 2009 Bar Sequence, Angel, London
March 2009 Deutsch Postbank, London
September 2006 Kemistry Gallery, Shoreditch Shuffle, London
July 2006 Whiteknights Studio trail, Reading
May 2006 BA Degree Show, University of Reading
June 2006 No Ball Games, Residential exhibition, Reading
Features:
Saatchi online feature by director: Rebecca Wilson
Diva magazine, Eatsleepdraw magazine cover work, Giddy Up Club poster illustration, Ladyfest 10 merchandise design. Magazine illustrations: Shebang, Gigantic Sequins, Lost In Thought, Magpie magazine.
Awards:
Griffin Art Prize top ten exhibitor
Exhibitions:
7th November 2012 The Griffin Art Prize (shortlist exhibition), The Griffin Gallery, London www.griffingallery.co.uk
March 2012 Dining Room Drawing Club, The Old Nuns Head, Nunhead, London
January 2012 Show Your Face, Cultivate Gallery, Vyner Street, London
September 2011 Buit Blanche, Jelly Legged Chicken, Reading
July 2011 The Dining Room Drawing Club, Earth and Stars, Brighton
January 2011 The Dining Room Drawing Club, Coach and Horses, Soho, London
December 2010 The Gallery, Stoke Newington Library, London
November 2010 Ladyfest Ten, Ground Floor Left Gallery, Hackney, London
September 2010 MA Degree Show, Wimbledon College of Art UAL, London
March 2010 The Nunnery, Mile End, London
September 2009 Bar Sequence, Angel, London
March 2009 Deutsch Postbank, London
September 2006 Kemistry Gallery, Shoreditch Shuffle, London
July 2006 Whiteknights Studio trail, Reading
May 2006 BA Degree Show, University of Reading
June 2006 No Ball Games, Residential exhibition, Reading