Visiting Professor of Drawing and Painting

Research Interests

Painting, Drawing and Cognition

Peer Esteem

2004, Elected Royal Academician; served on Royal Academy Council (2005/6), Selection Committee of Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2006. 

Profile

Humphrey Ocean was born in 1951 in Sussex. He studied at Canterbury Art School from 1970 to 1973, during which time he played bass with Kilburn and the Highroads, supporting The Who on their 1973 Christmas Tour. In 1982 he won the Imperial Tobacco Portrait Award, and in 1984 had his first major solo exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Internationally known for his portraits of Paul McCartney and Philip Larkin at the NPG, his work has been shown extensively, including at the Tate Liverpool and Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. In 1999, the National Maritime Museum commissioned Ocean to paint a picture of modern maritime Britain.

His one-year artist residency in 2002 at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, culminated in a solo exhibition of his work, 'How's my Driving', inspired by the gallery's collection of 17th century Dutch genre paintings, as well as its South London suburban suroundings.  

Humphrey Ocean first collaborated with John Tchalenko in the exhibition 'Double-Portrait' in 1991, and again on 'The Painter's Eye' at the National Portrait Gallery, London in 1999, an exhibition of the Wellcome Trust SCI-ART project. In October 2004, their third collaborative exhibition 'How Do You Look' was held at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, and thereafter toured to Yard Gallery, Nottingham Castle, Nottingham; County Gallery, Maidstone; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull; Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds; and Royal College of Surgeons, London. A recent commission by Goldsmiths College's Fine Art Department,"Portrait of Ben Pimlott, Warden of Goldsmiths College 1998-2004", was unveiled in Autumn 2006.

Work in Collections

Many of his portrait commissions are represented in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London. Other collections include the British Council, National Maritime Museum, Imperial War Museum, London; Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh; University of Wales, Swansea; and Royal Library, Windsor Castle.

Current Research - Artist Statement

"I have been working on a series of ten paintings since 2003. I continue to work with the printer Maurice Payne in New York. A set of twelve aquatints entitled 'From This We Can Tell' made on plate size 24x30cm have been completed and signed in a boxed edition of 25. The five 'chair' etchings, plate size 76.2x60.9cm, are about to be editioned. Those etchings and all my recent paintings are joined at the hip to the Dot Book.

The Dot Books 1999 - present
 

"The Dot Books, of which I am now on my third, started as drawing books to keep me occupied during in-between moments. What I like about drawing is that my pen is as happy circling a puddle as a princess. My thoughts are my own concern. I do find after all that I am not just drawing any old thing. I have to be excited. Not quite sketchbooks as such, I want the dot books to appear almost like a publication while I carry them around. The only difference is they are original.

Research Outputs

Recent Solo Exhibitions
2003   'How's my Driving' Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
1999   National Portrait Gallery, London
1999   National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

Recent Group Exhibtions / Collaborations
2006   'How Do You Look', John Tchalenko films Humphrey Ocean wearing an eye-tracker while painting his daughter. Hunterian Museum, Royal College of Surgeons, London
2006   'Icons and Idols: Commissioning Contemporary Portraits', National Portrait Gallery, London; touring to York City Art Gallery
2005   'Drawing Two Hundred', The Drawing Room, Tannery Arts, London
2004   'How Do You Look' an exhibition by John Tchalenko featuring a collaboration with Humphrey Ocean and Belinda Parsons, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London; touring to Yard Gallery, Nottingham Castle, Nottingham; Gallery, Maidstone; Ferens Art Gallery, Hull; Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds; Royal College of Surgeons, London.

Public Lectures / Conferences
2004   Drawing Quarters Symposium, The Advanced Centre in Drawing, Faculty of Art, Media and Design, Bower Ashton Campus University of the West of England (UWE) Bristol, with Caroline Broadhead, Grenville Davie, Paul Gough and Deanna Petherbridge. 13 - 16 July.

2005   Day class with ten students at the National Portrait Gallery, London working from a model followed by a guided tour through the Collection.

Related Links

ICFAR [International Centre for Fine Art Research] - Humphrey Ocean, Profile

E-mail

humphreyocean@btinternet.com