Printmaking has been a fundamental part of Royal Academician Humphrey Ocean’s artistic output for decades, weaving in and out of his wider practice as a painter for over 20 years. Much of Ocean’s work refers to, in his words, ‘our alluringly unnatural world’. He spends much of his time ‘with an eye on local habits and the way the human mind adapts and reveals itself’. Ocean’s series of ‘Transit’ screenprints made with Kip Gresham are a progression from an earlier green ‘Car’ that was editioned for a portfolio for Jesus College, Cambridge, in 2017. The chair is a recurring motif in Ocean’s work that can be interpreted as a form of portrait. The particular shape of a high-backed armchair appears in numerous forms. The recent ‘Yellow Chair’ is one of a pair of new prints which continue this interest; it’s partner print is red.
Ocean has exhibited his work widely since his first major solo show in 1984 at the National Portrait Gallery, London. He has also exhibited at Tate Liverpool, the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and Dulwich Picture Gallery, London. A major monograph was published by the Royal Academy of Arts of his work in 2019.
He lives and works in London.
