Jo Dennis’ work is characterized by the diverse aesthetic strategies and mediums in her practice, including installation, assemblage, painting, found objects and photography. Hovering between the realms of painting and sculpture. Dennis' abstract approach to art-making delves into themes associated with shelter and mortality. Employing a distinctive visual language and unorthodox painting techniques, Dennis focuses on the pivotal role art assumes in documenting memories. She explores how the interplay of materiality, surface, and texture can not only convey emotion but also capture the nuanced patina of time. Her artistic endeavour seeks to magnify the sensitivities inherent in these structures, remnants, and residual materials through the medium of paint.
Themes of home, refuge, and memory resonate through her creations, as she utilizes studio waste and found objects such as wooden panels and army surplus tents to craft compelling narratives that speak to the temporality of existence. The constant repurposing, blending, and reshaping of various techniques and mediums seems to reflect a state of perpetual deconstruction and reconstruction. Her sculptural paintings are marked by bold colours - rich tones of red, blue and yellow are deepened by contrasting pink, vivid green and orange - and evocative brushstrokes, highlighting the emotive resonance embedded within her work.
Jo Dennis (born in 1973 in Forres, Scotland) holds an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London (2022) and completed a BA in Fine Art and Contemporary Critical Theory at Goldsmiths College, London (2002). Recent solo and group exhibitions include Matter, Flowers Gallery, London (2023); Ares, curated by OHSH Projects for the Art in Conflict series at Cromwell Palace, London (2023); Absent without Leave, Sid Motion Gallery, London (2022, solo); Both Sides Now, curated by Samuele Visentin, Oneroom Gallery, London (2022); Summer Show, Eve Leibe Gallery, London (2022); God of War, OHSH Projects, London (2022); Pigeon Park 2, Manor Place, London (2022); Small is Beautiful, Flowers Gallery, London (2022); Autonomous Zone, Sid Motion Gallery, London (2021, solo); among others. Residencies include Cyprus College of Art (2022) and Castello Di Monticello d’Alba (2018). Dennis is a recipient of a Grants for the Arts from Arts Council England. Her work is part of the Soho House Collection, among others. The artist lives and works in London.