Sikelela Owen’s subjects are images of family and friends, of domestic life, of moments of rest and relaxation. Both in her choice of subject and in her use of paint, Sikelela strips away all external noise and focuses only on what matters in a kind of emotional essentialism. This dedication to intimacy lends her paintings a sense of strength, as if through searching for the precious in the everyday, Sikelela traces the shape of something subtly empowering.
Sikelela Owen’s subjects are images of family and friends, of domestic life, of moments of rest and relaxation. Both in her choice of subject and in her use of paint, Sikelela strips away all external noise and focuses only on what matters in a kind of emotional essentialism. This dedication to intimacy lends her paintings a sense of strength, as if through searching for the precious in the everyday, Sikelela traces the shape of something subtly empowering. This is work in which a domestic muse is used to provoke an identification not with the image, but with the special sense of community and the family ties that the paintings imply.
EDUCATION
2009-2012 Postgraduate Diploma In Fine Art Royal Academy Schools, London
2003-2009 BA Hons Fine Art (Painting) Chelsea College of Art and Design, London
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020 Together: New Paintings by Sikelela Owen, James Freeman Gallery, London
2020 Supper, Sleep and Sorrow, LdM Gallery, Florence
2019 Sikelela Owen, James Freeman Gallery, London
2017 Love, Eat , Sleep, Repeat , HSBC Canada Place , London
2014 People Everyday NAM Project, Milan
2014 Everyday People Norman Rea Gallery. University of York, York
2006 Nyacomba Vernon Mills, Manchester
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 Me, Myself & I, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London
2018 Dentons Art Prize, London
2018 Muse, James Freeman Gallery, London
2015 100 Painters of Tomorrow Beer Gallery, London
2015 Good Figures The Mall Gallery,London;Jerwood Space,West Sussex
2015 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Gesso Arts Space, Vienna, Austria
2014 Portrait Show, curated by Andreas Reiter Gesso Arts Space, Vienna, Austria
2013 Anthology Charlie Smith, London
2013 Young Gods Part 1 curated by Zavier Ellis Griffin Gallery, London
2012 FBA Futures The Mall Gallery, London
2012 Schools Summer Show Royal Academy of the Arts, London
2011 The Summer Exhibition Royal Academy of School, London
AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES
2019 Abbey Fellowship, British School at Rome
2019 Elephant Lab, London
2011 Dover Streets Arts club award, London
2010 Richard Ford Award - Prado Museum travel and drawing award, Madrid
2009-2012 Nichol Young Foundation Awards, London
PRESS AND PUBLICATION
2014 100 Painters of Tomorrow by Thames and Hudson
2013 iBook 100 London Artists Volume 1 by Elizabeth Beecher Publishing
2013 Young Gods 2012, a-n .co.uk review
2011 Arts, The Telegraph, Newspaper and online news