My paintings are a kind of dance between different tempos. Slow layering of colour and fast mark making. I am looking for a solution, that is always shifting but at the same time I am one step behind. Ready to draw a conclusion too quickly. The point becomes a challenge to let that solution go, and the process involves finding a place within myself when I can let that happen, to let the painting beat myself at my own game and become something I didn’t see coming. Colour is a very important part of what I do, and I try to use it to extend this notion that there is something to be solved. I think of lines as being part of another layer of colour that has expanded and broken up, taking themselves through one layer to the next to make an image that condenses everything into a moment of recognition before a sense of grammar kicks in.
Biography
Jess Woodrow
Education:
MA - Bath College of Art + Design (2008 - distinction)
Fine Art pg dip - University of Wales (Cardiff).
BA(Hons) Fine Art - Howard Gardens, Cardiff. (1990)
Diploma in Foundation studies - Weston-super-Mare College of Art.
Presell comprehensive school, Pembrokeshire.
Dominican College, Wicklow, Ireland.
Rathgar Junior school, Dublin.
Tullamore National school, County Offaly, Ireland.
Selected Exhibitions
2024 'Where we are now'. (one of 8 exhibitions.) curated by Jaqueline Alkema for the Welsh Group
2023 The Welsh Group show. Mid Wales Art Centre
2023 The Reading Group. Curated by Dr. Frances Woodley and Chris Nurse. Oriel Canfas, Cardiff
2023 Concentric Group Show - West Wharf Gallery, Cardiff.
2023 RCA Open.
Selected for Beep painting prize 2022 at Elysium Gallery, Swansea.
2022 'Mad shadows Mute ghosts'. Curated by Jess Woodrow
Group show with Jacqueline Alkema, Rosie McLachlan, Sophie Woodrow, Flora McLachlan. Oriel Q, Narberth, Pembrokeshire.
2022 'Walking in Two Worlds', group show. Curated by Jonathan Powell, Steph Goodger, Julian Rowe. Volcano, Swansea (Elysium).
2022 'Hibernation', group show with work created in lockdown. Curated by David Morgan Davies. Abergavenny art shop and Chapel gallery.
2022 Drawing. Members show. Oriel Q, Narberth.
2021 Aspects of Landscape - 3 artists. Oriel Q, Narberth. Curated by Harriet Addyman.
2021 'Walking in Two Worlds'. Curated by Jonathan Powell, Steph Goodger and Julian Rowe. Oceans Apart Gallery, Salford and Oriel Caernarfon, Gwynedd.
2016 'The Sound of Water', solo show. Oriel Q, Narberth, Pembrokeshire.
2015 Abergavenny art shop and Chapel gallery - summer show.
2015 '10 Artists from Bristol and London', Searchers Contemporary, Bristol.
2013 'Objects of Desire'. Searchers Contemporary, Bristol.
2010 Open Painting - A survey of contemporary painting. RWA Bristol.
2006/8 I exhibited with West Wales Art centre, Fishguard.
After my degree I was a member of Artspace in Bristol and was involved in the committee overseeing the transition to the new building that became Spike Island.
After my MA I was a member of BV studios in Bristol before returning to Wales.
I was elected to the Welsh Group in 2023
MA - Bath College of Art + Design (2008 - distinction)
Fine Art pg dip - University of Wales (Cardiff).
BA(Hons) Fine Art - Howard Gardens, Cardiff. (1990)
Diploma in Foundation studies - Weston-super-Mare College of Art.
Presell comprehensive school, Pembrokeshire.
Dominican College, Wicklow, Ireland.
Rathgar Junior school, Dublin.
Tullamore National school, County Offaly, Ireland.
Selected Exhibitions
2024 'Where we are now'. (one of 8 exhibitions.) curated by Jaqueline Alkema for the Welsh Group
2023 The Welsh Group show. Mid Wales Art Centre
2023 The Reading Group. Curated by Dr. Frances Woodley and Chris Nurse. Oriel Canfas, Cardiff
2023 Concentric Group Show - West Wharf Gallery, Cardiff.
2023 RCA Open.
Selected for Beep painting prize 2022 at Elysium Gallery, Swansea.
2022 'Mad shadows Mute ghosts'. Curated by Jess Woodrow
Group show with Jacqueline Alkema, Rosie McLachlan, Sophie Woodrow, Flora McLachlan. Oriel Q, Narberth, Pembrokeshire.
2022 'Walking in Two Worlds', group show. Curated by Jonathan Powell, Steph Goodger, Julian Rowe. Volcano, Swansea (Elysium).
2022 'Hibernation', group show with work created in lockdown. Curated by David Morgan Davies. Abergavenny art shop and Chapel gallery.
2022 Drawing. Members show. Oriel Q, Narberth.
2021 Aspects of Landscape - 3 artists. Oriel Q, Narberth. Curated by Harriet Addyman.
2021 'Walking in Two Worlds'. Curated by Jonathan Powell, Steph Goodger and Julian Rowe. Oceans Apart Gallery, Salford and Oriel Caernarfon, Gwynedd.
2016 'The Sound of Water', solo show. Oriel Q, Narberth, Pembrokeshire.
2015 Abergavenny art shop and Chapel gallery - summer show.
2015 '10 Artists from Bristol and London', Searchers Contemporary, Bristol.
2013 'Objects of Desire'. Searchers Contemporary, Bristol.
2010 Open Painting - A survey of contemporary painting. RWA Bristol.
2006/8 I exhibited with West Wales Art centre, Fishguard.
After my degree I was a member of Artspace in Bristol and was involved in the committee overseeing the transition to the new building that became Spike Island.
After my MA I was a member of BV studios in Bristol before returning to Wales.
I was elected to the Welsh Group in 2023
