Jack Joiner

Jack Joiner (b. 1991 London), lives and works in South East London. He is self-taught and has been practicing and exhibiting art since leaving formal education.

In 2014, he won the Art’s Club Charitable Trust Award at The Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition. Subsequently, his practice shifted from representation towards abstraction, and is typified by experimental paintings wherein process, materiality, composition, and colour are foremost.

In 2022, he helped design the environment of a new research clinic (CIPPRes Clinic) for the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London. He donated 14 original works to the clinic. Since then, he has been collaborating with the Foundation for Visionary Science and Art, and raising funds for them and Drug Science, through the sale of his artwork. Additionally, he has had the privilege of speaking at esteemed institutions, including the V&A, Fotografiska Berlin & Ladbroke Hall.

“I've always attempted to find a kind of order in my painting practice. Perhaps it's finding an island of order in a chaotic universe, or perhaps its finding order in a chaotic mind. It's probably both.”

6 questions with Jack Joiner

We ask our emerging artists 6 questions to uncover what drives their work, practice, and creativity.

What themes or questions do you find recurring in your work?

The immense balance of order and chaos that typifies our universe and everything in it. The energy of the present moment and the point of experience are all structures I use to build paintings around.

Can you describe a pivotal moment in your journey as an artist?

I use to be a representational painter, mainly working from people. I found myself in a technical cul-de-sac and very limited within my practice and felt my temperament would be better suited to a freer, more energetic and more immediate way of working, so I began the change.

What materials or processes are most important in your practice - and why?

The use of gold in recent years has been transformative for my work. Gold has the ability to make or break colours, and vice versa. I apply gold leaf directly onto the surface of the oil paint. Painting is part of my soul, I've been obsessed with it for my whole life, it is how I process and understand my life.

How do you want people to feel when they experience your work?

I want there to be an inevitability in my work. As if it was always meant to look like that, as is characteristic in natural things.

What does a typical day in your studio look like?

Always painting, rarely tidying. Long hours, black instant coffee.

What dreams or hopes do you have for your artistic journey?

I hope to pursue my curiosities, loves and joy throughout every area of my life. The most exciting place for me to work is on the verge of what I am yet to know how to do. I wish to grow.