ARTIST JACK PENNY
Jack
Penny
British figurative painter. A 21st-century documentarian of city life, viewed from the outside. Haphazard, improvised, funny, slightly sinister. The Swimmers series. Georg Grosz, De Kooning, Diebenkorn.
Jack Penny · Photo: Sam Bailey
"The art I connect with most powerfully comes from somewhere slightly uncomfortable or unexpected, made by artists not overly concerned with what is considered fashionable. Intuitive and honest over obvious technical acumen."
In his evocative figurative paintings, British artist Jack Penny depicts contemporary urban life from the perspective of a rural-dwelling outsider. His largely improvised and haphazard compositions question the sustainability of modern society, established systems, and the nine-to-five hustle of blue- and white-collar workers as they go about their daily lives. Viewing himself as a 21st-century documentarian of city life, like George Grosz before him, Penny paints seemingly anonymous figures clustered together, as if searching for validation in numbers. He currently lives and works in West Sussex. His work has been exhibited internationally in London, Berlin, St. Moritz, Madrid, Hong Kong and now New York.
It might sound obvious but I genuinely believe that as a creative person your biggest influence is inevitably always going to be your family and friends. The people you surround yourself with on a daily basis shape your experiences, even in the subtlest of ways. I have been fortunate enough to grow up in a family that loved and appreciated the arts. Nevertheless, I never really intended to be an artist until a friend showed me a Ralph Steadman book in my early teens. It had a profound and immediate effect. More than anything technical or academic, the energy and feel of the work moved me immediately and opened up a sense of possibility about what I could achieve.
The art I connect with most powerfully comes from somewhere slightly uncomfortable or unexpected, often made by artists not overly concerned by what is considered fashionable at the time. Artists like Georg Baselitz, Louise Bourgeois, or Pervis Young, who prioritise being intuitive and honest over obvious technical acumen, and have a sense of irreverence about the way they approach the canon. Most recently: Rebecca Ackroyd, Tom Lovelace, and Daisy Parris. All very different, all appealing to my draw for the slightly uncomfortable.
I listen to a lot of music while I am painting. I find it a great source of distraction and focus at the same time. It helps create a space for me to be more spontaneous and less neurotic in my work. I still love a lot of the records that came out of the post-punk wave in New York, but really I enjoy any music from any era that shares the traits of independence, originality and improvisation that I value in all art.
Fortunately my day-to-day working life has not been disrupted as much as for most people. Psychologically and creatively however it has had a big impact. I originally wanted to approach the subject artistically and began a series loosely based on the pandemic. However, the whole thing seemed too massive, incomprehensible and fluid to get a handle on, and so I actually ended up moving in the opposite direction, deliberately seeking out escapist themes. This is where the Swimmers series came from. In a very subconscious way I was drawn towards a motif that was innocent, natural and healthy as a way of freeing myself from the heaviness we all felt.
The paintings in the series started as an almost childlike celebration of something very pure but gradually developed into something really quite ominous and sinister. By the end, the swimmers are almost drowning. I think in a way that reflected how I, and perhaps everyone else, was feeling as the pandemic dragged on and deepened.
"The critic whose opinion I tend to enjoy the most is my five-year-old step-daughter Léna. Her response to the work is always totally instinctive and sometimes brutally honest in a way I find really refreshing and wonderful."
Jack PennyIt has been really gratifying to share my work with peers and other artists that I love and admire, and to have them respond in a way that shows they understand what I am aiming for, my sense of humour and approach to the medium. However I have to say that the critic whose opinion I tend to enjoy the most is my five-year-old step-daughter Léna. Her response to the work is always totally instinctive and sometimes brutally honest in a way that I find really refreshing and wonderful.
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✦ Explore all our interviews →"By the end, the swimmers are almost drowning. I think that reflected how I, and perhaps everyone else, was feeling as the pandemic dragged on."
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