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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

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