Spencer Shakespeare
Born in 1967 in London, Shakespeare discovered his addiction to the natural world in his yearly holidays to Cornwall with his family, which, after 20 years of living on Australia's Gold Coast he has returned to, residing in the Tamar Valley where he says the bird song is at its most beautiful.
Being an obsessive and automatic drawer since the age of seven, Shakespeare completed a degree in Illustration at Bournemouth College of Art and Design (1992-1995). Although his love of drawing never stopped, as he matured both as a person and an artist, he sought to break away from commissioned work, seeking his own artistic independence. Now an internationally successful artist, independence is what he has certainly achieved. He enjoys transcribing places of intersection; the coastline, the edge of forests- places where a transition of boundaries takes place. The garden is significant in his work because of the element of interchange between the domestic boundary and the beginning of wilderness. Although he is inspired by places such as these, he never strives for specifics nor is beholden to the landscape around him, instead drawing and exposing his own imaginary world. His work connotes a kind of mystery, a kind of magic. A world where colours are intense, high contrast, energetic: vibrating with an emotional energy. His abstract canvases show the blurred boundaries of the humming world he sees: a door for you, the viewer, that opens into wonderland.
Current Representation
Kers Gallery - Amsterdam - NLD
Vanner Gallery - Salisbury - UK
Exhibitions, Residencies & Projects
2024 - Kaleidoscope
23rd March - ongoing
Projects 22, Rock, Cornwall, UK
2024 - Sanctuary
16th March - 6th April
Kers Gallery, Amsterdam, NLD
2024 - Art Rotterdam
1st February - 4th February
Kers Gallery, Main Section, Art Rotterdam, NLD
2023/4 - Colourful
4th November - 1st January
Kers Gallery, Amsterdam, NLD
2023 - Crossings
22nd September - 19th October
The Vanner Gallery, Salisbury, UK
2023 - Lughnasadh
1st August - 12th September
Anima Mundi, St Ives, UK
2022 - Thin Places
17th June - 18th July
Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Penzance, UK
2022 - Art of the Present Future Chapter 2
10th May - 30th June
AP House, Madrid, Spain
2022 - Pink
April 14th - 1st May
Piermarq*, Surry Hills, NSW, Australia
2022 - Residency
April - June
Porthmeor Studio 5, St Ives, Cornwall
2022 - Places of Intersection, Places of Becoming
February 4th - 30th April
One Wall Gallery, Eugene, Oregon US
2022 - Dreamland
January 22nd - March 1st
Kers Gallery, Amsterdam
2022 - Paperworks Vol II
January - Present
NBB Gallery, Berlin
2021 - Affordable Art Fair with Livingstone St Ives
October 21st - October 24th
Battersea Park, London
2021 - Amongst Friends
October 7th - October 31st
Livingstone St Ives, St Ives, Cornwall
2021 - Residency
June - September
Porthmeor Studio 5, St Ives, Cornwall
2021 – Mind the Gap
May 12th - May 21st
CIRCLE Contemporary, Cornwall
2021 – Prima Vera
March 1st - May 3rd
Livingstone St Ives at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens
2020/21 – Brindar con extraños
December 5th - January 5th
Trinta Gallery, Santiago de Compostela Spain
2020 - Spencer Shakespeare x Gorman
Gorman winter collection
Gorman Clothing, Melbourne
2019 – Sea Tree Bird and Bee
October 12th - November 12th
Kers Gallery, Amsterdam Netherlands
2019 – Recent Work
September 12th – October 20th
BDDW annex, New York USA
2019 – Summer Mix
June 21st – September 24th
CIRCLE Contemporary Cornwall
2018 – Alchemy Faune
May 23rd – June 12th
Dust Temple, Currumbin QLD Australia
2017 – Outlook
Kers Gallery, Amsterdam Netherlands
2017 – The Garden
November 17th – December 1st
Maverick Art, Coolangatta QLD Australia
2017 – We are the ones
Calsberg Byen Galleri, Copenhagen Denmark
2017 – Seraphim
May 23rd – June 12th
The Design Files, Melbourne VIC Australia
2016 – New Slang
DenHolm Studios, Melbourne VIC Australia
Education
1992 – 1995 Illustration
Bournemouth College of Art and Design
Contact
+44 7932 799063