Ken Spooner

Ken Spooner: To be an artist, and to make art is not about subject – still life, nudes, landscape.

It is not about figuration or abstraction. Life living breathing touching feeling love. Giving oneself over to what you do. For me art always been about the object.

A straight line, or square is MALE.

A curved line, or circle is FEMALE.

I like to put the two together and see what happens. I like the endless possibilities that this can lead to.

Art for me is not about having a style. I see style as a trap. A box or cage. A prison for creativity. To make art one has to let go of what one knows and to take a leap into the unknown.

Art is about creation, not stagnation.

Art is not the style of the artist…

The artist IS the style.

The objects he produces are only the byproduct of his imagination:

The work is the last word.

We have to look further than what we can see, what we know and what we feel.

The objective chance.

Read article on Ken Spooner.

Iconic artist Ken Spooner, now in his 70s, shows no sign of slowing down his creative output. His paintings, ceramics, sculptures, photographs and assemblages show a true reflection of the artist’s restless and uncompromising nature.

Ken Spooner was born in Leek, Staffordshire and lives in Penwith, West Cornwall.

Despite receiving no formal art training, he was awarded a 1st Class (hons) degree in Fine Art by North Staffordshire University in the mid 1950s.

He was represented and exhibited at Gallery County West in San Fransisco, USA from 1980 – 85 and Gallery Five o’Clock in Lausanne, Switzerland from 1992 – 99.

Selected Commissions and Projects

Ignition – hardback book accompanying solo exhibition at Cornwall Contemporary

Terence Disdale Design

Rose Barber Film Company

Decor Gallery

NEC Exhibition Centre, Birmingham

Wedgewood Memorial Garden, Staffordshire

3 years on projects with William Mitchell Design, High Wycombe

British Libraries Millennium Memory Bank

BBC Home Services as guest for Arts Design

Short film by BBC about work and working methods

work in private collections worldwide

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2017 – ‘Symbiosis’ Cornwall Contemporary 

2015 – ‘Art Will Drown your Eyes’ Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance

2014 – ‘Ignition’ Cornwall Contemporary, Penzance

2011 – Millennium, St. Ives

2007 – ‘Many Layers’ Goldfish, Penzance

1992 – 99 – Gallery Five o ‘Clock, Switzerland

1980 – 85 – Gallery Country West, San Fransisco, USA

Selected Mixed Exhibitions

2015 NSA exhibition, Penwith Gallery, St. Ives

2015 FRESH AIR, sculpture exhibition, riverside gardens, Gloucestershire

2014 NSA exhibition PZ Gallery, Critics Choice curated by Laura Gascoigne, arts critic and writer

2010 House of Fairy Tales, Millennium, St. Ives

2009 NSA exhibition RWA, Bristol

2008 Summer Show, Medici Gallery, Cork Street, London

2006 Campden Gallery, London

2006 Spontaneous Combustion, Trelowarren

2004 Identity, NSA, Newlyn Art Gallery

2003, Critics Choice, NSA, Newlyn Art Gallery