Gemma Cumming graduated in 2006 from Loughborough University (School of Art and Design) with a BA in Fine Art. Looking at ideas of failed perfection, anticipation and tourism, her work primarily reacts to imagery that sells an expectation of a place, not its reality.
Through various media she aims to subvert this kind of imagery. Using paint, she creates giant painted postcards with an ominous twist. Replacing the blue skies with darker and/or more ominous ones, while retaining the brightly lit foreground, and occasionally adding other incongruous objects she asks the viewer to look again at the scene. She also creates drawings, prints and other works that explore similar themes and concerns.
She has undertaken a number of unusual projects including painting a life size fibreglass adolescent elephant for summer 2010’s Elephant Parade London and a life size orang-utan for summer 2011’s Jungle City Edinburgh (both raising funds for ‘The Elephant Family’ charity). She has also recently had solo exhibitions in Octavia View, Wisbech and South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell.
Selected Exhibitions and Experience
Solo Exhibitions
2017 – Art in the Library, Wokingham Library, Wokingham, Berkshire
2012 – Beautiful Fenland, Octavia View, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire (catalogue)
2012 – While Things Were Good, South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, Berkshire
2011 – Summer is Coming, Maiden Place, Lower Earley, Reading, Berkshire
2009 – Greetings from the Mantelpiece, ReOrsa Project Space, Bracknell, Berkshire
Group Exhibitions
2014 to present – Wokingham Arts Trail, various venues, Wokingham, Berkshire
2018 – Artlines, Jelly, Broad Street, Reading
2013 – Artweeks Open, The Jam Factory, Oxford
2013 – Sketchbook Project 2013, Brooklyn Art Library (and touring in the USA)
2012 – Sketchbook Project 2012, Canada Water Library (and touring internationally), London
2012 – Mis-InFormation, Fringe Arts Bath, Bath
2012 – Boundaries and Beyond, Gallery@49, Bracknell, Berkshire
2011 – Jungle City Edinburgh, The Elephant Family, Throughout Edinburgh.
2011 – Trans-Siberian Arts Centre, A KITCHEN project, travelling from Moscow to Beijing.
2011 – Unblank, Square Art Exhibition, Golden Square, London.
2011 – All That Remains, ReOrsa project 5, ReOrsa at More Arts space, Wokingham.
2011 – Double Lives: Duple Trials, Malt Cross gallery, Nottingham
2010 – Summer, The Crocus Gallery, Nottingham
2010 – The Elephant Parade, The Elephant Family, Throughout London (31 Harbet Road, Paddington)
2009 – Somewhere Else, Broadwalk Arts, Bristol
2009 – Summer Salon 09, Islington Arts Factory, London
2009 – Wish You Were Here?, The Firestation, Windsor (2 man show)
2009 – Ideas Bank 2009, Slough Museum, Slough
2008 – Wrapped and encased in Liverpool, The Artists Book Fair, Liverpool Biennial, Wolstenholme Projects
2008 – In Common, New Greenham Arts, Newbury (catalogue)
2008 – The Great Purpose of Landscape Art, Mile End Park Arts Pavilion, London (catalogue)
2008 – Locus, Fringe Arts Bath, Bath
2008 – Hide and Seek, Blue Elephant Theatre, Camberwell, London
2007 – A Word on the Street, Museum of Farnham, Farnham
Prizes, Residencies and Talks
2011 – Artist in Residence at Ashmead Combined School, Aylesbury, Bucks.
2009 – Talk Ideas Bank 2009, Slough Museum, Slough
2009 – Symposium “What would it mean to take part?” 23:25 group, Goldsmiths University, London.
2008 – A talk about my work in Locus alongside a selection of the other artists, Fringe Arts Bath
2006 – Charnwood Borough Council Purchase Prize
Work in various public and private collections including Charnwood Borough Council.