Jemimah Patterson   

home | works | profile | news | contact
 







scroll & select category to view

Mashrabiya Series
This brand new Mashrabiya Series has been been influenced by the lattice work of architecture found in the Islamic world. The wallpaper which lines the entomologist's boxes (from London's Natural History Museum) depict repeated images of conjoined twins which form ornate patterns. The conjoined velvet chairs painted on top of the glass in turn form their own shadows which cast wonderful complex latticed shadows onto my personalised wallpaper.
Biddenden Maids
Solo exhibition at Ryebank Gallery in Rye, 4 Dec -12 Jan 2022. Jemimah exhibited her latest pieces in the beautiful Woollett Room of Ryebank. This marked the first opportunity to see Jemimah's work exhibited in her locality since moving to Kent.

The legend goes that that Mary & Eliza Chulkhurst were born in Biddenden in the 16th Century conjoined at their hips, the pair became known as 'The Biddenden Maids' and were reportedly celebrated village do-gooders. Today, the once conjoined Jemimah Patterson now finds herself as a new re-incarnated 'Biddenden Maid' living in a 16th Century house in Biddenden. It seems very pertinent that Jemimah's first exposure here makes a nod to this uncanny coincidence.......
Bottom Drawer
GBS Fine Art, Wells, Somerset 30 Sept - 26 Nov 2022
Historically ‘Bottom Drawer’ was a place where valued items would be placed and preserved for another point in life. Contemporary artists Jemimah Patterson and Rachel Schwalm’s ‘Bottom Drawer’ is a metaphysical one which they reveal to us in this exciting new two-man exhibition. Emotions, shadows and memories are neatly packaged within vintage boxes and precious frames; antique books and entomologist’s drawers. Together they rework these treasured forms adding their own new layer of human presence to them. The finished pieces are a palimpsest of their past.
Separated Together
The 'space between' is an interesting concept for artists. This series explores separation and what's left between each other, how we are intrinsically linked despite physical separation. This is relevant to my being one of a set of separated conjoined identical twins and of course the impact of the pandemic.
Life Chairs
I am currently working on a series of 10 chairs representing different aspects of life be those: Birthing chairs, High Chairs, Mobility Chairs, Sex Chairs, Death Chairs......

As well as being our most quotidian way of relaxing and disengaging they signify everything from comfort to authority. They are highly ceremonial and have always been associated with religion, rank and officialdom. They serve a multitude of purposes. Many of which I will express through the 'Life Series' appropriately using antique specimen trays from London's formidable Natural History Museum.
Covid Series
This small series involves the use of women's periodicals from the 1930s and 40s. Their subject matter is particularly pertinent during this pandemic.
Recent Works
This body of work has been inspired by a beautiful collection of collecting drawers and cabinetry from the Natural History Museum
Earlier works
A combination of wall-hung vintage canvases and antique objects on which Jemimah has added her own layer of history.
'Reflections' exhibition with David Simon Contemporary
An overview of Jemimah's latest work which was exhibited in David Simon's Bath gallery space in 2015.
Signature
Jemimah Patterson was selected to present a solo exhibition in the Signature section of Abu Dhabi Art 2011 at the Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi's Cultural District 16 - 19 November. Part of this exhibition subsequently toured to Cork Street, London with Waterhouse & Dodd and was on view until the end of January 2012. Current works are available to view at the Gallery in Cork Street on request.
Inner Search
Patterson’s twinning creates resonant psychological dimensions that are reflected in her compositions, for instance paired or mirrored motifs recur throughout her work, often creating surrogate double portraits. Her attraction to doubled imagery emerges in her manipulation of shadows and mirrors. The reflective surfaces of both glass and mirror for her chosen medium allow her to explore these ideas of duplicity and identity further.
Two-In
With a nod to the Surrealist movement, Patterson takes everday objects such as boxes or cabinets and makes her own ‘assisted readymades’.Patterson is sensitive to the significance of ordinary objects, transformed in the hands of a writer or an artist, taking on a double life. She collects old canvases and cabinets, prizing them for their interesting backs or internal spaces. Patterson likes the fact these come with their own unique histories that relate to a previous existence. Labels, doodles and marks become precious gifts and identities in these objects, testaments to their past. Patterson feels she merely borrows these pieces, by adding her own layer to them. For these cabinets can be shut, the boxes closed and the canvas’ turned allowing them to exist as they always have done without knowing the artist had ever touched them.
The Confessional
I became interested in subverting the 'Confessional box' for the traditional iconic British red telephone box. The space of the actual 'Confessional box. I have researched numerous famous confessional boxes across Europe including a period of time spent at the Royal Brompton Oratory in London.
Unheimlich
Sigmund Freud's consulting chair is an intriguing piece; specifically designed for his study by an architect to conform to Freud's exact body shape. The chair itself, unique in its design appears to be in a state of metamorphosis, as if taking on animal like qualities. Its worn leather and embedded indentations lend themselves towards a feeling that his presence is still with us, just patiently sitting, observing and waiting. In these two works his chair has no grounding, it appears to float upon the glass whilst still casting a shadow on the back of the canvas. Freud’s ideas about free association and the interpretation of dreams through his study of psychoanalysis hover within these works.

With special thanks to The Freud Museum for allowing me access to the chair and their own images.
Presence
The shadows have a particular significance in this body of work. The paintings onto glass which are then laid on to the reverse side of vintage stretchers allow a shadow to take hold on the back of the canvas. In some instances I have forced a shadow, sometimes through tea staining. Chairs have characters of their own. With age, their character develops, a lone chair begs questions: has someone just left? Will they return? They even take on human characteristics without their sitter.
Convex mirror series
Oils & acrylics painted on to vintage convex mirrors. Some remain with their original wooden and gilded frames, others exist independently of them
Commissions
Occasionally I undertake specific commissions; these range from working with objects embued with personal significance (for the client) to working with special people! Most recently I was commissioned to work with Darwin's study chair which required a period of time spent at Downe House to obtain reference material before undertaking the paintings.
Photography
A photographic series of works combined with my painting of Marcel Duchamp's double studio door in oils on to a convex mirror
Artists' Support Pledge NEW
Artists around the world are suffering from the uncertainty caused by the continued spread of the Coronavirus. In a bid to help them carry on as the world shuts down, artist Matthew Burrows has launched a pledge to encourage them to help each other.

The idea is simple: Artists who commit to the pledge will post images of a work that’s for sale, for no more than £200, and each time their sales reach £1,000 they promise to buy another artist’s work for £200.

 

 

 

 powered by Rather Good Solutions