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STUART SEMPLE
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STUART SEMPLE

Visual artistLondon, United Kingdom
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Pip Jamieson
Brendan McKnight
Poppy Jamieson
STUART SEMPLE
Available

STUART SEMPLE

Visual artistLondon, United Kingdom
Professions
  • Artist
LevelSenior
AvailabilityFreelance
About me
Stuart Semple is one of the UK’s leading post YBA artists, perhaps best known for his ‘Happy Cloud’ performance from Tate Modern, where he flooded the London skyline with artificial, eco clouds in the shape of smiley’s during the 2009 recession. Following this, the performance has been repeated in Moscow, Manchester, Milan, Australia, Denver & Dublin.  Semple has held 15 critically acclaimed solo exhibitions internationally in Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and Milan. He has featured in over 50 group exhibitions alongside artists such as Peter Doig, Basquiat, Warhol, Richard Prince, Ai Wei Wei and The Chapman Brothers. He has been featured across the media in The Times, Modern Painters, Italian Vogue, iD, Financial Times and many others. He has presented for the BBC and spoken at Oxford University, ICA, Denver Art Museum, Southbank Centre & Irish Museum of Modern Art. Most recently, Semple has been embroiled in what has become known as the ‘Art Wars’, which started when artist Anish Kapoor secured the exclusive rights to use Vantablack, the blackest substance on earth, meaning that no artists would be able to use the pigment. This sparked Semple’s imagination and compelled him to create an elaborate piece of internet performance art, tackling the themes of accessibility, equality and elitism head on – starting with the creation of the ‘Pinkest Pink’, available to all but Kapoor. Last year, Semple’s ‘Happy City’ project took over the city of Denver, incorporating a series of large-scale public artworks, installations, immersive experiences and his participatory exhibition 'Happiness HQ'. He is currently working on an iteration of the project with the Hong Kong Art Centre for November 2020. Semple has been honoured as a UN Happiness Hero, a distinction given to mark the first UN International Day of Happiness on 20th March 2013. Stuart is also an ambassador for Mind, the mental health charity.
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Projects
  • ARTIST JOB CENTRE
    ARTIST JOB CENTREI thought it was really wrong that artists have been told to retrain. I think creativity is vitally important so I made a little installation in London in the hopes that artists wouldn't be forgotten.
  • Hug Huddle
    Hug HuddleOn Monday 26th March 2018, at Tower Bridge in London we invited members of the public to embrace on another. These fleeting moments of connection and intimacy in a seemingly hostile world proved that most people are lovely, public space doesn't have to be scary and that we have more in common than we have different. The piece happened simultaneously in Denver, and it's the first piece to be staged in a series of works by Stuart Semple, produced by The Denver Theatre District for a project cal
  • Start Semple - Happy City
    Start Semple - Happy City'Happy City' is an ongoing series of public art interventions, happenings and installations by British artist Stuart Semple spanning almost a decade. The premise of this body of work is simple, to test the idea that art in public space could help to connect us and make us feel happier. “The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.” ― Albert Einstein Since 2008 Stuart has been creating award winning public art around the world, using it as a
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Projects credited in
  • Stuart Semple’s Flying Cats
    Stuart Semple’s Flying CatsCommissioned by Stuart Semple, I worked with the artist to help realise his video of Stuart Semple's Flying Cats. This was a piece of video art that I filmed and edited to tell the artist's story of breaking through expectations.
  • Suspend disbelief - exhibition video
    Suspend disbelief - exhibition videoCommissioned by artist Stuart Semple, we collaborated to create a video teaser/invite for his successful exhibition Suspend Disbelief.
  • Planar 1/1
    Planar 1/1Building on the success of the turntables we made with Thierry Noir in 2016, this year we invited ten artists to take a Rega Planar 1 turntable and create something unique with it to aid our cause...
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Work history
    S
    S
    ArtistStuart Semple
    London, United KingdomFull Time
    Stuart Semple's artistic career has spanned 19 years with over 15 international solo exhibitions, major public art projects, art fairs and biennials. Stuart Semple's works are in the collections of The Getty, David Roberts, Niarchos and Langen Foundations and have been included in significant international charity projects and group exhibitions at the ICA, Victoria Miro, The Goss-Michael Foundation, Sotheby's, Sammlung Fide, The Fine Art Society and the Museum of Art and Design, NYC. Semple speaks on art, mental health and artists'​ rights for DACS. Stuart Semple is an ambassador for Mind, initiating the Mind Creative Therapies Fund, launched with Stephen Fry and Lord Melvyn Bragg at the exhibition Mindful, supported by Tracey Emin, Mat Collishaw, Sarah Lucas the Chapman Brothers and other leading artists.
Skills
  • Design
  • Conceptual art
  • Experiental
  • Sculpture
  • Public Art
  • Creative Direction
  • Art Directing
  • Painting
  • Installation Art
  • Social Change