Lot 398 - Jen Orpin - The Sign

Oil on paper
2025
A6 (10x15cm)
Original Artwork
Signed on Verso
Curated by Art on a Postcard

About

The visual representations of landscapes in my paintings and the framed view from the car make up and form the basis of visceral memories and nostalgia, liminal spaces that occupy the landscape between the places and people that mean the most to us. The importance of these external landscapes is often mirrored by the internal dialogue of the driver and passenger with the confinements of the car at times offering an intimate confessional space. The mundanity of these every day actions often belies the truth of deep routed emotions that come with these well-travelled routes and connections to these familiar places. In these paintings I aim to portray this feeling, emotionalism is a key element in the success of each one and as a viewer you are forced to look down the road as its sole traveler and undertake each journey as your own.

Education

1993-1996

BA Hons in Fine Art, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

1992-1993

Art Foundation, West Surrey College of Art and Design, UK

Solo Exhibitions

2024
We Left Nothing Behind, Union Gallery, London, UK
A Navigation Of Memory, Jari Lager Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Art Busan, solo presentation, Jari Lager Gallery, South Korea

2023
The Journey Continues, Saul Hay Gallery, Manchester, UK

2022
Thirteen Bridges, London Modern, Waltham Forest Town Hall, London, UK

2021
The Manchester Modernist Society, Silent Cursors Punctuated Journeys, Manchester, UK

Group Exhibitions

2025
London Art Fair, Saul Hay Gallery, UK
A Bell Is A Cup Until It Is Struck, BLOC Projects, Sheffield, UK
Journeys, Taylor-Jones & Son, Deal, UK
Rolling Action…Paint!, Jari Lager Gallery, Vestfossen, Norway

2024
Here is My Favourite Place, Jari Lager Gallery, Seoul, UK
London Art Fair. Encounters Space, Saul Hay gallery, London, UK
New Light Art Prize, Bankside Gallery, London, UK
New Light Art Prize, Rheged Arts Centre, Penrith, UK
A Small Space On Tour, TAT Art Space, Bali
Royal Academy Summer Show, London, UK
Terrace Open, Patchworks, London, UK
Friends Of Dorothy, Refuge. Manchester, UK
New Light Art Prize, The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle, UK
Connections. MAFA, Stockport War Memorial art Gallery, UK
New Light Art Prize, The Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate, UK
Rogue Women 3, curator, Rogue Studios, Manchester, UK
The Pearls & The Oyster, The Birley Studios, Preston, UK
Manchester Contemporary. Rogue Women stand, Manchester, UK

2023
Rogue Women II. Co-Curated, Rogue Artists’ Studios, Manchester, UK
Coalescence, Contemporary Six Gallery, Manchester, UK
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. London, UK
MAFA Summer Exhibition, Dean Clough, Halifax, UK
A Generous Space 3, Huddersfield Art Gallery, UK
New Light Art Prize. Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhead, UK
Sight Ingested, part performance. Tokyo
My Brutal Life, Moore Street substation, Sheffield, UK
Sight Seeing, School of Fine Art, Athens
The Bury Open, Bury Museum and Art Gallery, UK
ING Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London, UK
The London Group Open, Copeland Gallery, London, UK
Manchester Contemporary. Rogue Women, Curator, UK
A Small Space, Square Feet Space, London, UK
Daegu Art fair, Jari Lager Gallery, South Korea
In Case You Missed It, The Modernist, Manchester, UK

Gallery Representation

Saul Hay Gallery, Manchester, UK

Jari Lager Gallery, London/South Korea

Public Collections

Manchester Art Gallery, UK

New Art Gallery Walsall, UK

Statement about AOAP Submitted Artwork

My night driving paintings capture the interplay of artificial and natural light, evoking a sense of solitude, romanticism, mystery, and the fleeting nature of night time journeys. These paintings emphasise contrasts, car headlights pick out the shadowy details and subtle shapes. The soft glow of distant lights offers a visual narrative of transition, introspection, and the quiet beauty of the darkened world outside the car. Through this lens, night driving becomes both a literal and metaphorical journey, often exploring themes of isolation, motion, and the search for meaning in the vastness of the night.