Jemma Appleby (b. 1987) is a British artist who graduated from City and Guilds of London Art School. Appleby's drawings amplify each environment's simplicity and purity with an aim of clarification. The clean minimal spaces she depicts offer little information yet have an authority to describe a magnitude. The non-narrative architectural spaces make enquiries of the memory, knowledge and experience of human space. Appleby grinds black charcoal and applies it on paper with her bare hands in a unique creative process that allows for no mistakes. The artist captures the way light interacts with various structures and the different shadows they create. At first approach the subjects seem abstract, but upon noticing the shapes’ smooth surfaces, the viewer notices a ‘real’ element to it with the light absorbing one’s attention and shadows confirming their authenticity.
Her works have been shown in the UK, Italy, Colombia, Belgium, Spain and France, in exhibitions such as; the Summer Exhibitions at Royal Academy of Arts curated by Grayson Perry (2018) and by Michael Craig-Martin (2015); Architecture As Metaphor, with Phyllida Barlow, Rachel Whiteread, and Richard Deacon at the Griffin Gallery, LA.CU.NA at LAMB Arts, curated group exhibition at St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery and Southampton City Art Gallery. Appleby's artworks are featured in the permanent collections of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Macaulay Library in Kent, Royal West of England Academy and Hartnett Holder & Co., alongside private collections in Europe, USA, Saudi Arabia and Asia. She is the recipient of The Arts Club Prize for Finest Drawing at the National Art Competition in 2010, Royal Society of British Artists residency award at The British School at Rome, Chateau de Blavou Residency in Normandie and The Haworth Trust Award for Painting.
Selected Exhibitions
2020
LUCE, two-person exhibition with Liz West, Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, UK
Folding the Visible, Online show curated by Maria Valeria Biondo, Daniel Benjamin Gallery
2019
The Arborealists, #13000818, National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire, UK
Housewarming, Maison Touchard, London, UK
Summer exhibition, Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, UK
WAC Awards, Wells Cathedral, Somerset, UK
The Light in the World is Without a Significant Plan, Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, UK
Lux Materia, Programa Taide and Daniel Benjamin Gallery, Madrid, Spain
The Art of The Tree, The Young Gallery, Salisbury, UK
Creekside Open, Selected by Sacha Craddock, APT Gallery, London, UK
2018
The Derwent Art Prize, Mall Galleries, London, Town Hall, UK
Arts -Trowbridge and The Pencil Museum, Cumbria, UK
Group Exhibition, 67 York Street, Marylebone, London, UK
St Ives Society of Artists, Mariners Gallery, St Ives, UK
‘Making Space’, Kobi & Teal, Frome, Somerset, UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (curated by Grayson Perry)
2017
The Art of Trees, Art Bermondsey Project Space, London, UK
Be Right Back, Manuel Vason Studio, London, UK
Browns East, London, UK
Four Fingers and a Thumb, Strand Gallery, London, UK
Les Arborealistes: The art of the tree, Les Dortoirs des Moines, Poitiers, France
Architecture As Metaphor, Griffin Gallery, London, UK (with Phyllida Barlow and Richard Deacon)
Peripheries at Lisa Norris Gallery, London, UK
2016
LA.CU.NA, LAMB Arts, London, UK
Art Bo, LAMB Arts – Bogota, Colombia
The Arborealists: The art of the tree, St Barbe Museum, Lymington, UK
Chicks with Bricks, Cannes, France
2015
LAPADA, Berkley Square, London, UK
Arborealists: The Art of the Tree, Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire, UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Royal West of England Academy Secret Postcard Exhibition, Bristol, UK
London Art Fair, Antlers Gallery, London, UK
2014
Arboretum, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK
Contemporary and Modern British Drawings, The Art Stable, Dorset, UK
Perfectionism: A Method of Practice, Griffin Gallery, London, UK
2013
Under the Greenwood: Picturing the British Tree, St Barbe Museum in association with Southampton City Art Gallery
Strange Worlds, Forum des Arts, Chateau de Blavou, Normandy, France
About Town, Sarah O’Kane Contemporary Fine Art, Lewes, UK
2012
Ludlow Open, Ludlow, UK
Holon 1:14.013, (SOLO) Meantime, Cheltenham, UK
The Open West 2012, Gloucester Cathedral, Gloucester, UK
2011
Now is my Winter, Griffin Rayne Gallery, London, UK
Outside In, Store Street Gallery, London, UK
Lisa Sharpe Contemporary Art, One Alfred Place, London, UK
Artworks Open 2011, Barbican Arts Group Trust, London, UK
Exhausted Colour, Griffin Rayne Gallery, London, UK
RBA Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, UK
2010
Intimate Spaces, Galerie8, London, UK
National Open Art Competition Chichester, UK
Along These Lines, Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, Romsey, UK
The Threadneedle Prize, Mall Galleries, London, UK
Collections
Permanent collection at the Royal Academy of Engineering
The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
‘Democracy’, site specific drawings for permanent collection, Macaulay Library, Babington House School, Kent
Permanent collection at Hartnett Holder & Co, Limewood Hotel, Lyndhurst and Whitley Ridge Hotel, Brockenhurst
Awards & Residences
2014
Jerwood Drawing Prize, Jerwood Visual Arts, London, UK
2013
Chateau de Blavou Residency - Forum des Arts, Normandy, France
2012
Meantime Residency in association with The Open West
Griffin Art Prize, Griffin Gallery, London, UK
2010
The Arts Club Prize for Finest Drawing, National Open Art Competition
Royal Society of British Artists residency award at The British School at Rome
2009
The Haworth Trust Award for Painting
Publications
2020
Aesthetica Magazine, Exhibition review
Londonist, 13 Exhibitions that’ll blow you away right now
FAD Magazine, The top 5 exhibitions to see in London in February
Luxury London, 5 top things to do in London this weekend
Evening Standard (online and printed), Exhibition review
BBC Radio, Interview with Jemma Appleby
2019
The Architects’ Journal, Exhibition review: seeing architecture in a different light
Salisbury Journal, The Art of the Tree at the Young Gallery
Dazed, Art events to leave the house for this month
2017
The Guardian/The Observer – ‘Into the Woods’ – Exhibition review by Rachel Cooke
‘Trebuchet’ Issue 2, ISSN:1753-030X
‘BE: The journal of the Built Environment Trust’
‘Les Arborealistes: L’art des arbres’ Poitiers, France, ISBN:978-0-9555510-5-5
‘Architecture as Metaphor’, ISBN:978-0-9954639-6-7
2016
Blouin Art Info – ‘What to See, and Buy, Art Bo’, Exhibition review
‘The Arborealists: The art of the tree’ by Angela Summerfield and Peter Davis2016 ISBN 978-1908326867
House & Garden – profile by Emily Tobin
2013
‘Under the Greenwood: Picturing the British Tree from Constable to Kurt Jackson’ by Anne Anderson 2013 ISBN 978-1-908326-30-02
2012
‘Holon | Hutong | Jubilee’, handmade limited edition book
2011
‘Gallery View’, The Market, business investment magazine
2010
‘Press Release’, Threadneedle Prize
2009
The Culture Show Special Edition: The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2009, BBC2
Education
2009
BA (Hons) Fine Art Painting, City and Guilds of London Art School, London, UK (1stClass)
2006
Foundation Art Studies, Byam Shaw School of Art, London, UK