Tessa Farmer

Last updated

Tessa Farmer
Born1978
Education The Ruskin, Oxford – BA 2000, MA 2003
Known for Sculpture
Notable work
Miniature Worlds at the Jerwood Space, The Mouse That Roared at Project 133 in Peckham, and The Terror at Firstsite in Colchester.

Tessa Farmer (born 1978, Birmingham, UK) is an artist based in London. Her work, made from insect carcasses, plant roots and other found natural materials, comprises hanging installations depicting Boschian battles between insects and tiny winged skeletal humanoids. [1]

Contents

Farmer studied at The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in 2000 and her Master of Arts in 2003. Subsequent awards include the Vivien Leigh Prize, a sculpture residency in King's Wood, Challock, Kent, and a Royal British Society of Sculptors Bursary Award. Her work is in the collections of the Saatchi Gallery and the Ashmolean Museum among others. [2]

In 2007, Farmer was artist in residence at the Natural History Museum and was chosen for the final shortlist of The Times/South Bank Show Breakthrough Award. [3]

In 2015, she won the BSFA Award for Best Artwork 2014, for an installation inspired by The Wasp Factory from Iain Banks. [4]

Family

Her great-grandfather is Arthur Machen – author of The Great God Pan, and The White People. Tessa was unfamiliar with Machen's work until a member of The Friends of Arthur Machen drew her attention to similarities between some of Machen's stories and Tessa's own work. Since then, Machen has become an influence in her artwork. [5]

Selected exhibitions

Related Research Articles

Barbara Hepworth English artist and sculptor (1903–1975)

Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leading figure in the colony of artists who resided in St Ives during the Second World War.

Saatchi Gallery Physical and online contemporary art museum in Chelsea, London

The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving to the Damien Hirst-led Young British Artists, followed by shows purely of painting, led to Saatchi Gallery becoming a recognised authority in contemporary art globally. It has occupied different premises, first in North London, then the South Bank by the River Thames, and finally in Chelsea, Duke of York's HQ, its current location. In 2019 Saatchi Gallery became a registered charity and begun a new chapter in its history. Recent exhibitions include the major solo exhibition of the artist JR, JR: Chronicles, and London Grads Now in September 2019 lending the gallery spaces to graduates from leading fine art schools who experienced the cancellation of physical degree shows due to the pandemic.

Conrad Shawcross British artist

Conrad Hartley Pelham Shawcross is a British artist specializing in mechanical sculptures based on philosophical and scientific ideas. Shawcross is the youngest living member of the Royal Academy of Arts.

Madge Gill (1882–1961), born Maude Ethel Eades, was an English outsider and visionary artist.

Hackney Central Human settlement in England

Hackney Central is a sub-district of Hackney in the London Borough of Hackney in London, England and is four miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross.

Leonora Carrington Mexican artist, surrealist painter and novelist (1917–2011)

Mary Leonora Carrington was a British-born Mexican artist, surrealist painter, and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement of the 1930s. Carrington was also a founding member of the women's liberation movement in Mexico during the 1970s.

Alan Bowness British art historian (1928–2021)

Sir Alan Bowness CBE was a British art historian, art critic, and museum director. He was the director of the Tate Gallery between 1980 and 1988.

Ged Quinn is an English artist and musician. He studied at the Ruskin School of Art and St Anne's College in Oxford, the Slade School of Art in London, the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam. He now lives and works in the UK.

Sokari Douglas Camp CBE is a London-based artist who has had exhibitions all over the world and was the recipient of a bursary from the Henry Moore Foundation. She was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2005 Birthday Honours list.

Reena Saini Kallat is an Indian visual artist. She currently lives and works in Mumbai.

Huma Mulji is a Pakistani contemporary artist. Her works are in the collections of the Saatchi Gallery, London and the Asia Society Museum. She received the Abraaj Capital Art Prize in 2013.

The House of Fairy Tales (London) Childrens arts charity in London, England

The House of Fairy Tales is a children's arts charity based in London, England. The House of Fairy Tales brings together artists, performers, actors, writers and philosophers to deliver theatrical events, guides and exhibitions. The House of Fairy Tales is a registered charity and holds the registration number 1140334 in England and Wales.

Kim Lim (1936–1997) was a Singaporean-British sculptor and printmaker of Chinese descent. She is most recognized for her abstract wooden and stone-carved sculptures that explore the relationship between art and nature, and works on paper that developed alongside her sculptural practice. Lim's attention to the minute details of curve, line and surface made her an exponent of minimalism.

Katy Moran is an English contemporary artist whose work is in the collection of the Arts Council and the Government Art Collection. Moran is represented by Stuart Shave/Modern Art and the Andrea Rosen Gallery.

The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History Curiosity museum in Hackney, London

The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & Natural History is a museum and bar in Hackney, situated in a former call centre on Mare Street in the London Borough of Hackney. It is operated by Viktor Wynd and part of The Last Tuesday Society and was funded on Kickstarter in 2015.

Viktor Wynd is an artist, author, lecturer, impresario and committee member of The London Institute of 'Pataphysics.

Last Tuesday Society

The Last Tuesday Society is a London-based organization founded by William James at Harvard and run by artist Viktor Wynd with directors Allison Crawbuck and Rhys Everett, putting on literary and artistic events monthly.

Lionel Smit is a South African artist, known for his contemporary portraiture executed through large canvases and sculptures.

Anthea Hamilton British artist (born 1978)

Anthea Hamilton is a British artist who graduated from the Royal College of Art and was one of four shortlisted for the 2016 Turner Prize and responsible for the show's most popular exhibit, Project For Door. She is known for creating strange and surreal artworks and large-scale installations.

Amanda Ansell English artist

Amanda Ansell is an English artist. She studied Fine Art at Norwich University of the Arts between 1995 and 1998 and then at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London from 1998 to 2000. After living in London for seven years, she returned to her native Suffolk in 2006 to begin an artist residency at Firstsite, Colchester. The same year, a body of work was selected for exhibition at Kettles Yard, Cambridge and she was nominated for Jerwood Contemporary Painters.

References

  1. Tessa Farmer Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine , Axis feature
  2. "Newcontemporaries 2004 | selected artists 2004 | Tessa Farmer". Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2010.
  3. CampbellJohnston, Rachel; Gatti, Tom (8 January 2008). "Breakthrough Award the shortlist". The Times. London. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
  4. Flood, Alison (7 April 2015). "British Science Fiction awards honour 3D Wasp Factory". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  5. "In Conversation With Tessa Farmer" (PDF). Antennae. 1 (3): 16–24. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 28 October 2007.