Ikon is pleased to announce the continuation of Art at HMP Grendon, its artist residency at HMP Grendon, Buckinghamshire, for another three years (2024–2026). The residency has been generously funded by the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Charitable Trust since 2010 and managed by Ikon since 2014.
Simon J. Harris, artist and printmaker commences an 18-month residency, working with community members to produce new work which will be showcased at HMP Grendon and Ikon Gallery. Harris is an artist, Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for BA (Hons) Fine Art at University of Wolverhampton. Harris works across printmaking, photography and painting, pursuing a pictorial plane referencing the cinematic surface as an abstracted image. Read more.
With a focus on the development of the prisoners’ artistic practice, in 2022 Ikon opened the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Studio at HMP Grendon – a dedicated space for workshops, in printing and painting, and a changing programme of exhibitions, art historical and contemporary.
Ikon has managed three artist residencies – Edmund Clark (2014 – 2018), Dean Kelland (2019 – 2023) and James Lomax (2024).
The residency runs alongside a public programme of research symposia and events at Ikon, allowing a platform for public discourse on the role of art in criminal justice. A number of related publications are available from Ikon Shop.
“Having already worked with the prisoners at HMP Grendon I have witnessed the impact that the art studio has on creative practice. I’m excited to continue to engage with the community, and to develop our shared artistic practices within the Marie-Louise von Motesiczky Studio. I also plan to create the largest painting ever made in a prison, drawing on my continued research into critical theory of the image.” Simon J. Harris.
James Lomax (2024) reuses and reframes found objects by shifting their materiality or changing their function/purpose to pose political questions or highlight specific aspects of contemporary culture. Lomax facilitated workshops to introduce casting techniques in the prison’s art studio and held an exhibition of new work, titled A Tale of Two Cities.
Dean Kelland (2019 – 2023) is a Birmingham-born artist who works across performance, photography and filmmaking. During his residency Kelland referenced figures from popular culture such as Elvis and David Bowie, interrogating male identity and flawed notions of masculinity.
Edmund Clark (2014 – 2018) is an artist with a longstanding interest in incarceration and its effects. During his residency Clark created work that explores ideas of visibility, representation, trauma and self-image.
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