JESSE DARLING
Born in 1987
Lives & works in Oxford, UK

Jesse Darling’s multi-disciplinary practice considers how bodily subjects are initially formed and continuously reformed through sociopolitical influences. Jesse Darling draws on his own experience as well as the narratives of history and counter-history. He explores the inherent vulnerability of being a body, and how the inevitable mortality of living things translates to civilizations and structures. Featuring an array of free-floating consumer goods, support devices, liturgical objects, construction materials, fictional characters and mythical symbols, Jesse Darling’s work recontextualizes manmade objects to reveal their precarity. Simultaneously wounded and liberated shapes outwardly bare their frailty and need for care and healing. In 2023, he was awarded the Turner Prize 2023 in Painting.

La pratique pluridisciplinaire de Jesse Darling explore la manière dont les corps sont constitués comme tels puis continuellement transformés par le sociopolitique. Jesse Darling s’inspire autant de sa propre expérience que des récits de l’Histoire et leurs contre-histoires. Il explore la vulnérabilité inhérente au corps et la manière dont cette inévitable mortalité se traduit dans la structure des civilisations. Par l'utilisation de biens de consommation courante, de dispositifs de soutien, d'objets liturgiques, de matériaux de construction, ou encore de personnages fictifs et de symboles mythiques, Jesse Darling recontextualise les objets fabriqués par l’homme pour révéler leur précarité. Simultanément blessées et libérées, les formes mettent à nu leur fragilité et leur besoin de soins et de guérison. En 2023, il a reçu le Turner Prize en Peinture.

↑ Skin Rosary, 2023
Tirage Epson P20 000 sur Bright White Hahnemühle 310g / Epson P20 000 print on Bright White Hahnemühle 310g, Cadre : 30 x 25 cm, Image 5 x 6,5 cm.
↑ Inflation, Testament II, 2022
Porcelaine, étagère Porcelain, shelf, 117 × 30 cm.
↑ covenants VI, 2023
Grès / Stoneware, 51 x 12 x 10 cm.
↑ Deeds III, 2023
Vitrine, textile, marteaux, lanière, fleurs séchées, punaise, ruban, cloches / Vitrine, textile, hammers, lanyard, dried flowers, drawing pin, ribbon, bells, 70 x 42 x 11 cm.
↑ Pharmakon 1 , 2022
Silicone and pigment Silicone and pigment, Longueur : 300 cm / Length : 118 in.
© Grégory Copitet

Solo show
Galerie Sultana, Paris, France.
May 03 - June 01, 2024.
© Grégory Copitet

↑ Jesse Darling, Regalia & Insignia, 2018
Acier, silicone, peinture en aérosol, sangles de sac, autocollants ECG, muselière pour chien, doigtier, jesmonite, crochets de boucher, os cassé, oiseau, perspex / Steel, silicone, spray paint, pack straps, ECG stickers, dog muzzle, finger pen, jesmonite, butcher hooks, broken bone, bird, perspex, 138 × 120 × 25 cm.

CRUELLA DE-VIL
Curated by Noam Alon.
Sultana Summer Set, Arles, France.
April 05 - June 01, 2024.
© François Deladerrière

British artist and this year’s Turner Prize winner Jesse Darling talks about his prize-winning work which has been described as "delirious" and "juggling" with themes of Brexit, nationality, identity, bureaucracy, immigration and austerity. Humorous and bold, it's made up of net curtains, crowd control barriers, washing lines, bunting and ring binders, among other discarded junk. He talks to Eve Jackson about making a state-of-the-nation address and his next project, inspired by French novelist and playwright Jean Genet's novel "Our Lady of the Flowers" about underground queer Parisian life, written in prison in the 1940s.

↑ Saint Icarus (attributes), 2018
Wood, aluminium, pack straps, plastic, 40 × 254 × 9 cm.
↑ Jesse Darling, Watcher 2, 2017
Welded steel, castor wheel, paper, used work glove, 220 x 80 x 90.
↑ Jesse Darling, Banner, 2022
Barbed wired, steel / Fils barbelés, acier, Dimensions variable.

Trucs, machins et Bidules (Nooks & Crannies)
Curated by Olivier Renaud-Clément.
Galerie Christophe Gaillard, Brussels, Belgique.
March 14 - April 28, 2024.
© Christophe Gaillard

Where are we, Jesse? The answer is not clear.

In this video, artist Jesse Darling and a small film crew go on a road trip across the UK. Passing through seaside towns, container ports, service stations, retail parts and an abandoned airport, this is a journey that encounters at every turn the barriers and borders (both physical and invisible) of modern Britain.

It’s a journey without a final destination, but one that hints at just how complicated and connected, how wonderful and terrible everything is.

Jesse Darling is nominated for the 2023 Turner Prize, hosted by Towner Eastbourne. The winner will be announced on 5 December 2023.

↑ Epistemologies II, 2022
Béton, classeurs à anneaux, classeurs à levier, éta- gères en métal, canne, napperon / Concrete, ring binders, lever-arch files, metal shel- ves, cane, doily, Dimensions variables.

Big Dipper, 2023
Métal, Steel, Approx. 390 x 190 x 504 cm.
↑ Exhibitions view of Turner Prize 2023.
↑ Exhibitions view of Turner Prize 2023.
↑ Bickwick, 2023
Bougie, bois, métal, ruban, grelotsn / Candle, wood, metal, ribbon, bells, 31 x 15.5 x 8 cm.
↑ Grandad 3 (Donkey Jim), 2023
Béquille, bâtons de marche, métal, bougie, ruban, cloches / Crutch, walking sticks, metal, candle, ribbon, bells, 168 x 2.5 x 33 cm.

Epistemologies I, 2022
Béton, classeurs à anneaux, classeurs à levier, étagères en métal, canne, napperon / Concrete, ring binders, lever-arch files, metal shelves, cane, doily, Dimensions variables.
↑ Deeds III, 2023
Vitrine, textile, marteaux, lanière, fleurs séchées, punaise, ruban, cloches / Vitrine, textile, hammers, lanyard, dried flowers, drawing pin, ribbon, bells, 70 x 42 x 11 cm.
↑ Come on England, 2023
Barrières en acier, acier soudé. roues / Steel barriers, welded steel. wheels, 860 x 310 x 210 cm.
↑ Maypole, 2023
Acier, ruban d'avertissement, banderoles, techniques mixtes / Steel, warning tape, bunting, mixed media, Dimensions variable, height: approx 5m, base: 108 x 9 x 168 cm.
↑ Grandad 1 (Ploughman John), 2023
Béquille, râteau, chaîne, bois / Crutch, rake, chain, wood, 145 x 24x 33 cm.

Jesse Darling
Grandad 2 (Jackhammer Bernard), 2023
Béquille, râteau, chaîne, bois / Crutch, rake, chain, wood, 108 x 19 x 29 cm.
↑ Come on England (Bulldog), 2023
Barrières en acier, acier soudé, torchon / Steel barriers, welded steel, tea towel, 173 x 140 x 244 cm.
↑ Come on England (Bulldog), 2023 (Detail)

Turner Prize 2023
Towner Eastbourne, Eastbourne, UK.
September 28, 2023 – April 14, 2024.
© Tom Carter

↑ Virgin Variations series, 2019
wood, plexiglass, paper, paint, steel, stickers, toilet roll, pipe cleaner, cocktail umbrella, Dimensions variables.

Phantom Sculpture
Warwick Art Center, University of Warwick, UK.
October 5, 2023 - March 10, 2024.
© Olivia Bax

↑ View of the exhibition After Laughter Comes Tears 13.10.2023 — 07.01.2024, Mudam Luxembourg
© Photo: Fabrizio Vatieri | Mudam Luxembourg

After Laughter Comes Tears : A performative exhibition in four acts
MUDAM, Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
October 13, 2023 – January 07, 2024.

© Fabrizio Vatieri - Mudam Luxembourg

↑ Untitled (still life), 2018 – ongoing, 2023
↑ Untitled (still life), 2018 – ongoing, 2023
↑ Untitled (still life), 2018 – ongoing, 2023

Interdependencies : Perspectives on care and resilience
Curated by Dr. Michael Birchall.
Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich, Swiss.
October 07, 2023 - January 21, 2024.
© Studio Stucky - Stefan Altenburge

Nous buvons le soleil
Sultana Summer Set, Arles, France.
June 30 - September 09, 2023.
© François Deladerrière

Soft Touch
Curated by Margaux Bonopera.
Sultana Summer Set, Arles, France.
March 11 - April 29, 2023.
© François Deladerrière

↑ Reliquary (for and after Felix Gonzalez-Torres, in loving memory), 2023

EXPOSÉ•ES
Curated by François Piron.
Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France.
February 17 - May 14, 2023.
© Quentin Chevrier

↑ Corpus (Speculation), 2022
Béton, acier, polystyrène, bois, verre, grès
Concrete, steel, polysterene, wood, glass, stoneware
200 cm ø 30 cm
↑ Peak Flow, 2013 / 2022
Plâtre, pigment, poudre de marbre
Plaster, pigment, marble powder
Dimensions variable

Paris + by Art Basel
Le Grand Palais Éphémère, Paris, France.
October 18-24, 2022.
© Gregory Copitet

Miserere
St James’s church Piccadilly, London, UK.
October 12-16, 2022.

Enclosures
Camdem Art Center, London, UK.
May 13 - June 12, 2022.
© Eva Herzog

No Medals, No Ribbons
Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK.
March 05 - May 01, 2022.
© Ben Westoby

Cottagecore
Sultana Set, Paris, France.
February 05 - March 26, 2022.
© Aurélien Mole

CRIP TIME
MMK, Frankurt, Germany.
September 18, 2020 - January 30, 2021.
© Alex Schneider

Ora et Lege
Monastery of Broumov, Broumov, Česko.
June 19 - September 30, 2021.
© Educational and Cultural Center Broumov & Tomáš Souček

Life constantly escape
Kunstraum, Uccle, Belgique.
February 26 - March 31, 2021.
© Aurélien Mole

Collection as Poem in the Age of Ephemerality
X Museum, Beijing, China.
December 06, 2020 - February 28, 2021.
© Semi Semet

A Fine Line
Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
August 29 - November 1, 2020.
© Marcus Meyer

Gravity Road
Kunstverein Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
September 19 - November 1, 2020.
© Marc Doradzillo

When The Sick Rule The World
ALTE FABRIK, Rapperswil, Swiss.
February 22 - March 22, 2020.
© Niklas Goldbach

The same room : Julie Becker in dialogue
Galerie Neu, Berlin, Germany.
February 08 - March 14, 2020.
© Neu Gallery

Selva Oscura
Galerie Sultana, Paris, France.
October 12 - November 23, 2019 .
© Aurélien Mole

Transcorporealities
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany.
September 21, 2019 - January 19, 2020.
© Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln / Nina Siefke

↑ Untitled, 2019
vitrine muséale et fleurs / Cabinet and flowers
dimension variable

Crevé
Triangle France-Astérides, Marseille, France.
March 16 – June 02, 2019.
© Aurélien Mole

The Ballad of Saint Jerome
Art Now, TATE Britain, London, UK.
September 22, 2018 - February 24, 2019.
© Matt Greenwood

May You Live In Interesting Times
58th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, Venezia, Italia.
May 16 - 25, 2018.

À Cris Ouverts
6e édition des Ateliers de Rennes - La Biennale d’art contemporain, Rennes, France.
September 29 - Décembre 2, 2018.
© Aurélien Mole.

Cellular World
Glasgow International Festival, GoMA, Glasgow.
April - October, 2018.

Support Level
Chapter Gallery, New York City, USA.
January 26 - March 11, 2018.

Armes Blanches
Galerie Sultana, Paris, France.
April 28 - July 1, 2017.
©Aurélien Mole

The Great Near
Arcadia Missa, London, UK
March 18 - May 7, 2016.

ATROPHILIA
Company, New York City, USA.
October 08 - December 04, 2016.

No Ordinary Love
Galerie Sultana, Paris, France.
June 23 - September 09, 2016.
© Aurélien Mole

Material Girls and Their Muses
Marcelle Joseph Projects, London, UK.
October 31 - November 14, 2014.

GALLERY SHOWS:

Jesse Darling - Solo Show
3 May 2024 — 3 May 2024

Cruella De-vil curated by Noam Alon
5 Apr 2024 — 5 Apr 2024

Nous buvons le soleil
30 Jun 2023 — 30 Jun 2023

Soft Touch
11 Mar 2023 — 11 Mar 2023

Cottagecore
4 Feb 2022 — 4 Feb 2022

YESN'T II
2 Dec 2020 — 2 Dec 2020

FAIRS:

Frieze New York. New York, USA
8 May 2020 — 8 May 2020

Art Basel Miami. Miami, USA
1 Dec 2022 — 1 Dec 2022

Art Basel Paris 2024 - Public Program, Petit Palais. Paris, France
15 Oct 2024 — 15 Oct 2024

Art Basel Paris 2024. Paris, France
16 Oct 2024 — 16 Oct 2024

BIO:

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS :

VANITAS, PETIT PALAIS, PARIS (2024) ; TURNER PRIZE 2023, EASTBOURNE TOWER, EASTBOURNE (2023) ; EXPOSÉ•ES, PALAIS DE TOKYO, PARIS (2023) ; TRUCS MACHINS & BIDULES, GALERIE CHRISTOPHE GAILLARD, BRUSSELS (2023) ; INCLUDE ENCLOSURES, CAMDEN ART CENTRE, LONDON (2022) ; NO MEDALS NO RIBBONS, MODERN ART OXFORD, OXFORD (2022) ; DRAWING IN THE CONTINUOUS PRESENT, THE DRAWING CENTER, NEW YORK CITY (2022) ; WALK! SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT, FRANKFURT (2022) ; CRIP TIME, MUSEUM MMK FÜR MODERNE KUNST, FRANKFURT (2021) ; TENSE CONDITIONS, STAATSGALERIE STUTTGART, STUTTGART (2021) ; GRAVITY ROAD, KUNSTVEREIN FREIBURG, FREIBURG (2020) ; HAUNTED HAUS, SWISS INSTITUTE, NEW YORK CITY (2020); MORE, MORE, MORE, TANK SHANGHAI, SHANGHAI (2020) ; STUDIO BERLIN, BOROS FOUNDATION, BERGHAIN, BERLIN (2020) ; KUNSTPREIS DER BÖTTCHERSTRASSE PRIZE, BREMEN (2020) ; TRANSCORPOREALITIES, MUSEUM LUDWIG, COLOGNE (2019) ; MAY YOU LIVE IN INTERESTING TIMES, VENICE BIENNALE, VENICE (2019) ; THE BALLAD OF ST JEROME, ART NOW, TATE BRITAIN, LONDON (2018).

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS : TATE, LONDON (UK) ; ARTS COUNCIL, LONDON (UK) ; LAFAYETTE ANTICIPATIONS, PARIS (FR) ; FRAC DES PAYS DE LA LOIRE (FR) ; UK GOVERNMENT ART COLLECTION, LONDON (UK) ; GLASGOW MUSEUMS, GLASGOW (UK) ; CNAP (FR); X MUSEUM, BEIJING (CN) ; AÏSHTI FOUNDATION, BEIRUT (LB).

Download Full CV.

RELATED NEWS:

Group Show. Gathering London. London, UK.
(https://www.gathering.london/)
16 Mar 2023 — 16 Mar 2023

Group Show. Palais de Tokyo. Paris, France.
(palaisdetokyo.com)
17 Feb 2023 — 17 Feb 2023

Group Show. 032c workshop space. Berlin, Germany.
(https://032c.com/)
3 Feb 2023 — 3 Feb 2023

Solo Show. Camden Art Center. London, UK.
(camdenartcentre.org)
28 Apr 2022 — 28 Apr 2022

Solo Show. Modern Art Oxford. Oxford, UK.
(https://modernartoxford.org.uk/)
5 Mar 2022 — 5 Mar 2022

Book Release. published by monitor books. Manchester, UK.
(www.monitorbooks.co.uk)
6 Dec 2021 — 6 Dec 2021

Group Show. Untere Augartenstraße. Vienna, Austria.
()
31 Mar 2021 — 31 Mar 2021

Group Show. Ygrec. Cergy, France.
(ensapc.fr)
15 Oct 2020 — 15 Oct 2020

Solo Show. Kunstverein Freibourg. Freibourg, Germany.
(kunstvereinfreiburg.de)
19 Sep 2020 — 19 Sep 2020

Group Show. E.A. Sharedspace. Tbilisi, Georgia.
(easharedspace.com)
12 Sep 2020 — 12 Sep 2020

Group Show. Kunsthalle Bremen. Bremen, Germany.
(https://www.kunsthalle-bremen.de)
29 Aug 2020 — 29 Aug 2020

Group Show. *ALTEFABRIK. Rapperswill, Switzerland.
(www.kurator.ch)
22 Feb 2020 — 22 Feb 2020

Group Show. la box_bourges / école nationale supérieure d’art de bourges. Bourges, France.
(www.ensa-bourges.fr)
14 Feb 2020 — 14 Feb 2020

Group Show. Galerie Neu. Berlin, Deutschland.
(www.galerieneu.net)
8 Feb 2020 — 8 Feb 2020

Solo Show. Tate Britain. London, United Kingdom.
(www.tate.org.uk)
22 Sep 2018 — 22 Sep 2018

Group Show. Tallinn Art Center. Tallinn, Estonia.
(baltictriennial13.org)
29 Jun 2018 — 29 Jun 2018

PRESS:

jesse-darling-presse.pdf (25.34 MB)

Sultana