The Petitioners

Jeffrey Dennis

2nd - 30th May

Thursday – Friday 11 – 5 Saturday 11 – 4 - and by appointment

A humble address: we, in this present assembled, stand before you, our adjudicators, to plead our case, filled with turbulent, restless and unquiet spirits in our own bowels.

For his first solo exhibition at Ken artspace, Jeffrey Dennis has applied two linked strategies. Three-dimensional paintings, wrapped around improvised structures made from packaging and leftover materials, function like architects' models, but fall short of utopian visions of idyllic communities, instead tending to explore the seams, fissures and erratic eruptions of people's lived experience. That process was developed in parallel with his habit of privately recording various actions and performances in the studio, depicted here in a collection of the small paintings. Such a self-conscious and somewhat absurd activity may puncture the lofty cogitations of the artist, but also forces deeper reflection, the ultimate manifestation of which may be to confront one's own challenging doppelgänger.

The feeling of vexation thus engendered grew stronger with every circumstance tending to show resemblance, moral or physical, between my rival and myself ... His cue, which was to perfect an imitation of myself, lay both in words and in actions; and most admirably did he play his part.

Edgar Allan Poe 'William Wilson'

Circuit Board 2018 Oil and charcoal on wood, metal and board. H19 x W76 XD51

Artist Bio

Jeffrey Dennis has worked in London and been exhibiting internationally since graduating from the Slade in 1980. His paintings embed 'picturuptors' — often observations of contemporary life — within a 'bubblescape', an organic matrix which offers the potential for continual mutation and evolution. His work is in public and private collections across the world, including the Arts Council Collection, British Council, Tate, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, The Italian Government Art Collection and the New School, New York. He was an Abbey Fellow in Painting at the British School at Rome in 2021, and has been a Senior Lecturer at Chelsea College of Arts since 2000.

Artist website

Ken artspace is a small new art space in the heart of Kennington.

Run by artists and founders Rob Kesseler and Agalis Manessi is

dedicated to a mix of occasional exhibitions, window installations

and pop-up events.

ken artspace

The Petitioners

Artist Bio

ARCHIVE

Contact Us