Kemi Onabulé
Statement
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Born 1995 in London,
Kemi Onabule is a painter and printmaker living and working in London. Since graduating from her BA in Fine Art Painting at Wimbledon College Of Art in 2016, she has been included in the Hix Award 2017 and the Ingram Young Artist Award 2017 and recently had her debut Solo Show: ‘Arrival On The Beach’ 2020 at Guts Gallery. She subsequently had her debut in-person solo show at Sim Smith Gallery in the autumn of 2022. In her work she explores the human relationship to nature and its changing role in our lives, our effect on it and the colonial histories that are intertwined with our current ecological predicament.
She is influenced by her Greek, English and Nigerian heritage and their ancient cultures, taking aesthetic and symbolic aspects from each to create a visual language that moves across the various mediums she uses.
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Kemi is currently represented by Sim Smith gallery in London
Solo Exhibitions
2024
False Spring, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
All the Land is Spoken For, Sim Smith, London, UK
2023
The Lunatics, Guts Gallery, London, UK
2022
Arcadia, Sim Smith, London, UK
2020
Arrival on the Beach, Guts Gallery, London, UK
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Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
Conversations, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UK
Body of Work, Mrs Gallery, Maspeth, USA
Summer Auction, Art On A Postcard, London, UK
Hovering, Capsule Venice, Venice, Italy
Arcadia and Elsewhere, James Cohan, New York, USA
2023
Looking Like Fire, Sim Smith, London, UK
Frieze London, Night Gallery, London, UK
Art Brussels, Sim Smith, London, UK
2022
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, Oliver Projects, London, UK
Shrubs, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Synthesis, Saatchi Gallery X Delphian Gallery, London, UK
Matches Struck Unexpectedly In The Dark, One Room Gallery, London, UK
Paper, Beers Gallery, London, UK
2021
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, Oliver Projects, London, UK
Saw It Hang Down There, Bode Projects, Berlin, Germany
Reality Check, Guts Gallery/Anderson Contemporary, London, UK
Into The Light of The Present Day, Oliver Projects, London, UK
Underpinned by Movements of Freighters, The Florence Trust, London, UK
Cluster-Phobia, Newington Green Meeting House, London, UK
Get A Load of This, Daniel Raphael Gallery, London, UK
For The Many Not The Few, Guts Gallery, London, UK
2020
FNB Art Joburg, Bode Projects, Berlin, Germany
Untitled (But Loved), Bosse & Baum, London, UK
In Response, The Viewing Room, London, UK
2019
They Catch Feelings, I Catch Bodies, Sim Smith, London, UK
2016
Wimbledon College of Art BA Degree Show, London, UK
2015
The Contemporary Portrait, Thompson's Gallery, London, UK
Awards
2021
Jackson's Painting Prize, Shortlisted
2017
Hix Award, Shortlisted
Ingram Young Artist Prize, Shortlisted
2016
Clyde & Co Art Awards, Shortlisted
Education
2016
BA (Hons), Fine Art: Painting, Wimbledon College of Art, London, UK
Talks
Kemi Onabulé 'All the Land is Spoken For', Artist Talk with Dr. Edwin Coomasaru, Sim Smith, London, UK, January 2024