Championed Artist
Kemi Onabule 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.
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. 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.
Born 1995 in London. Lives and Works in London.
Education
2016 BA (Hons), Fine Art: Painting, Wimbledon College of Art
Solo Exhibitions
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
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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FAD Magazine feature Guts latest exhibition REALITY CHECK
Mark Westall , FAD Magazine , 23 Sep 2021 -
DAZED features latest Guts exhibition, REALITY CHECK
Emily Dinsdale, DAZED, 21 Sep 2021 -
Top Ten Shows from the UK and Ireland
Mimi Chu, Frieze, 12 Feb 2021 -
ON VIEW BY FLASH ART: “It’s 2020 For F*ck Sake” Guts Gallery and Soft Punk / London
Flash Art , 11 Dec 2020 -
IT’S 2020 FOR F*CK SAKE
ART PLUGGED, ART PLUGGED, 30 Sep 2020
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And this skin of mine, to live again a second time
2 - 23 Jun 2022Guts Gallery is pleased to present a new group exhibition in late Spring 2022, the first group show in our new permanent HQ in London. ‘And this skin of mine, to live again a second time’ contemplates the multiple possibilities and avenues of ‘rebirth’ in our current day and age....Read more -
Supporting the Disaster Emergency Committee
AN ONLINE ARTWORK CHARITY SALE 24 Mar 2022About DEC 'The DEC brings together 15 leading UK aid charities to raise funds quickly and efficiently at times of crisis overseas. In these times of crisis, people in life-and-death situations need our help, and our mission is to save, protect and rebuild lives through effective humanitarian response. Pooling our...Read more -
REALITY CHECK
23 Sep - 3 Oct 2021Opening: Thur 23 Sept 6-9pm Exhibition Location: Anderson Contemporary, Carpenter’s Wharf Studios, 4b Roach Road, London E3 2PA Via Monier Road Footbridge Regular Opening Hours: Wed - Sun 11-6pm Guts Gallery is pleased to present REALITY CHECK, the inaugural exhibition at Anderson Contemporary, a new artist-led gallery space in London....Read more -
A NEW ART WORLD
A NEW ART WORLD IS POSSIBLE. 22 - 29 Jul 2021Private View: Thursday 22 July 6-9pm Opening Hours: Tues - Sun 11am - 6pm Location: 147 Stoke Newington High Street, London, N16 0NY No RSVP's required BUY THE MANIFESTO PRINT NOW Picking up where Guts Gallery’s online show, When Shit Hits the Fan Again (Feb, 2021) left off, A New...Read more -
WHEN SHIT HITS THE FAN AGAIN
FOR ARTISTS BY ARTISTS, 1 NIGHT ONLY. 4 Feb - 4 Mar 2021Through the invitation extended to established artists into the exhibition. We are hoping to reinstate a balance of power. Allowing established artists to shoulder emerging artists. 50% of sales of works sold by an established artist, will be distributed entirely to all the emerging artists involved. This redistribution of wealth offers a new outlook and model that is fundamentally for artists, by artists, creating an alternative system of support.Read more -
ARRIVAL ON THE BEACH
A Debut Solo Show by Kemi Onabule | It's 2020 For F*ck Sake – A Thirteen Artist, Back-to-Back Solo Exhibition Marathon 19 - 23 Nov 2020A Debut Solo Exhibition by Kemi Onabule as part of the It's 2020 For F*ck Sake Exhibition MarathonRead more
