Joe Fenton  

London-based artist Joe Fenton creates large drawings using graphite, ink and acrylics on paper over many weeks and months.  His surreal visions examine death and the meaning of life.

Joe Fenton is a London based artist that works mainly in monochrome. His large drawings are produced using graphite, ink and acrylics on paper.

Fenton's art work is influenced by many of the early surrealists. Embracing the grotesque by his employment of Hieronymus Bosch like figures that are gangly, writhing and cramped.

Fenton also uses motifs that suggest Eastern philosophy and Middle Eastern architecture whilst maintaining a feel for European Baroque and Rococo with complex frame ornamentation and plant like details. A common theme in all his works which recurs again and again is that of death and the fear of death. The fanciful and even freakish nature of his images seem to spring from the need to distance himself from the fear while at the same time acknowledging it.