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Statement 

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. 

Kemi is currently represented by Sim Smith gallery in London 

 

Education 

2016 BA (Hons), Fine Art: Painting, Wimbledon College of Art

Solo Exhibitions 

2023 'The Lunatics' Guts Gallery

2022 'Arcadia' Sim Smith London 

2020 Kemi Onabule: Arrival on the Beach, Guts Gallery 

Selected Group Exhibitions 

2022 ‘Matches Struck Unexpectedly In The Dark’ One Room Gallery, London. 

2022 ‘Shrubs’ Night Gallery, Los Angeles 

2022 ‘Paper’ Beers Gallery, London 

2021 Saw It Hang Down There, Bode Projects, Berlin                                             

2021 Reality Check, Guts Gallery/Anderson Contemporary, London                        

2021 Into The Light of The Present Day, Oliver Projects, London                       

2021 Underpinned by Movements of Freighters, The Florence Trust, London

2021 Cluster-Phobia, Newington Green Meeting House, London                     

2021 Get A Load of This, Daniel Raphael Gallery, London 

2021 For The Many Not The Few, Guts Gallery, London 

2020 Untitled (But Loved), Bosse & Baum, London 

2020 In Response, The Viewing Room, London 

2019 They Catch Feelings, I Catch Bodies, Sim Smith Gallery, London,

2016 Wimbledon College of Art BA Degree Show, London 

2015 The Contemporary Portrait, Thompson’s Gallery, London

 

Art Fairs 

2023 Art Brussles with Sim Smith

2021 Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair with Oliver Projects 

2020 FNB Art Joburg, with Bode Projects

 

Awards 

2021 Jackson's Painting Prize, Shortlisted 

2017 Hix Award, Shortlisted 

2017 Ingram Young Artist Prize, Shortlisted 

2016 Clyde & Co Art Awards, Shortlisted

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