Ken Spooner b.1942

Works Biography

Biography

Ken Spooner
b.1942

"Your art is your fullest expression of your life."

Filled with its own internal symbolism of objects, runes, text and motifs, Ken’s work draws from an array of mythologies as well as his own experiences. It frequently explores the artist’s life and commitment to human creative endeavour, often featuring everyday objects such as palette, paintbrush, and the studio. Working across a range of media, the works explore the alchemy and physical transformation of paper, paint and clay, the spirituality and mindset of the artist as creator, and the artist’s enduring pursuit of magic.

Born in Staffordshire in 1942, Ken first visited Cornwall in the late Fifties, immediately becoming part of its vibrant arts scene. Following a career importing antiques and architectural reclamation across Europe and the States, he began selling his artwork to influential contacts worldwide.

Despite no formal training, Ken was admitted to the University of North Staffordshire under the ‘Genius Clause’ and honoured with a First Class (Hons) degree in Fine Art. He has exhibited internationally and his work is collected by collectors drawn to the complexity, exuberance and transportive power of his compositions.

In 1981 he and his wife Pat moved to the far-west of Cornwall, to a tiny hamlet near Land’s End named ‘Crows an Wra’ –“the witch’s cross.” Here he began creating intensively, applying his practical skills to the production of paintings, sculpture, ceramics, jewellery and metalwork.

In the 1980s he was a regular exhibitor at Gallery County West in San Francisco USA, and in the 1990s, at Gallery Five O'Clock Lausanne in Switzerland. More recently he has exhibited in multiple solo shows at Millennium Gallery in St. Ives and Cornwall Contemporary in Penzance. He is also a member of the Newlyn Society of Artists.

Ken is well described by arts journalist Frank Ruhrmund: “multi-talented, a maverick if ever there was one... a magician, whatever medium he happens to be working with, whatever his subject matter, he never fails to capture and convey a sense of the magic which places all that he does in a world of its own.”

 

Selected exhibitions with Livingstone St. Ives

Gifts for Aphrodite, 2022
Evolution, 2022
Origin Unknown, 2021
Beyond Picasso, 2021
Sky Boats & Other Voyages, 2020