Jessie Stevenson (b. 1993, Norwich, UK) lives and works between North Norfolk and London. She graduated from Central Saint Martins with a BA in Fine Art in 2017 and finished her MFA in Painting at the Slade School of Fine Art in 2022, for which she received The Bartolomeu dos Santos Award. She is currently Honorary Research Associate at the Slade School of Art examining how the Spanish painter and printmaker, Francisco José de Goya (1746-1828) brought his unique voice to his draughtsmanship and the emotive possibilities, using an array of drawing tools.
Stevenson's work is inspired by landscape as a way to explore physical and emotional energies. Built of shifting, bright colour dynamics, her paintings investigate a sense of escapism as a poetic and philosophical gesture, using historical, autobiographical, spiritual and literary sources. She continually draws from the natural world, particularly the evolving terrain of the North Norfolk coastline. Clouds, rhododendrons, marshland, pine trees, and the natural phenomena of light become registers to channel her experience of memory and place.
She aims to embody an ideal beauty while prompting alternative levels of reality which she unfurls on the expansive canvas. She replicates unfolding shocks and surprises, embracing both pandemonium and paradise, euphoria and darkness, public and private realms. Her approach to painting incorporates writing, drawing, and video and is akin to a layered tapestry; it is a process that begins from the ground, rooted in the immediacy of the present moment, and expands outward, weaving together a narrative that reflects the ongoing flux of existence.
Jessie Stevenson (b. 1993, Norwich, UK) lives and works between North Norfolk and London. She graduated from Central Saint Martins with a BA in Fine Art in 2017 and finished her MFA in Painting at the Slade School of Fine Art in 2022, for which she received The Bartolomeu dos Santos Award. She is currently Honorary Research Associate at the Slade School of Art. In May (2024), Stevenson presented a solo booth at Market Art Fair with Berntson Bhattacharjee in Stockholm. Recent solo exhibitions include; 'The Circling Deeps' at Sapling Gallery in London (2023); 'Broken Gleam' at Berntson Bhattacharjee in Sweden (2022); 'Way Out West' at Sapling Gallery in London (2021). Recent group exhibitions include; 'Ithaca' at Herald St Gallery in London (2023-24); 'Babele' at Spazio Musa in Turin (2023); 'The Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon Charity Auction' at Phillips in London (2023); 'Dreaming in Colour' at Bonhams in London (2022); 'The Pump House' at Berntson Bhattacharjee in London (2022); 'Stäying Alive' at Berntson Bhattacharjee in Sweden (2021). Stevenson was winner of the Cass Art Prize in 2017 and was the recipient of the 2021 Col Art Residency in London. In November 2022, she completed her residency as part of The Richard Ford Award at The Prado Museum, Madrid.