Giles Penny produces work in multiple mediums: sculpture, printmaking and painting. His focus of expression is the human form, which acts as a vehicle to explore the interaction between physical and abstract worlds and often portrays an innocent humorous quality.
Working in the different mediums in parallel helps Giles Penny to develop ideas and how they can be presented. Often he just starts with a piece of paper and scissors!
In the early 90’s Giles Penny was artist in residence at the Body Shop Headquarters, Sussex.
Over a two year period of employment Anita Roddick commissioned many pieces from him during this time for the grounds around the various buildings, including versions of Seurat’s “The Bathers” and Monets “Dejeuner Sur L’Herbe”.
One of his early works is “Flat Man” showing a simple, minimalist ‘bust’ of a figure. This composition has been represented in large and small scale bronzes, prints and paintings. This figure allowed Giles Penny to develop his own vernacular based on simple, expressive forms which would reappear in many forms over the next decades, each time unique, telling its own story.
Here we present a selection of available works, all editions by Giles Penny can be found in our online shop here.
‘Cutting Out a Circle’ lithograph, 50 x 71 cm, edition of 20, £350 (unframed)
This piece shows the artist at work in his studio developing an idea, possibly using positive and negative space.
‘Mr and Mrs’ (2009) bronze sculpture, 50 cm high, edition of 9.
Here both the husband and wife are holding separate sheets, positive & negative.
‘Floating Shape’, painting.
Here the Flat Man is contemplating the development of work, when a floating shape (a new idea) comes into view.
‘He, Himself, Him’, screen print 94 x 69 cm, edition of 45, £375 (unframed).
This composition exists as a painting and sculpture under the title ‘Man on Bench’.
It shows a lonely figure, something that we can all relate to from time to time.
In 2017 Giles Penny produced a new series of four screen prints:
‘Man Who Knows the Way’
‘Artist’
‘Next Doors Garden’
‘Say No to Green Potatoes”.
Each is 59 x 42 cm and in an edition of 50 priced at £200 unframed.
The first two developed Giles Penny’s recognisable figure in a painterly, freehand drawn style.
The second two are rare compositions commenting on domestic life, see also ‘Hetty‘ and ‘Washing’ below.
Currently, there are several small scale bronzes by Giles Penny available. Some are in editions of just 12 others 20 or 30.
From top left they are:
Man in a Disk IX - Bronze, 15 cm high, edition of 30, £1,450
Man Holding Disk - Bronze, 21 cm high, edition of 12, £1,300
Abstract Man - Bronze, 20 cm high, edition of 12, £1,200
Oh My Dear - Bronze, 18 cm high, edition of 12, £1,450
Paper Plate Mates - Bronze, 19 cm high, edition of 12, £1,450
Man in a Disk XII - Bronze, 16 cm high, edition of 12, £1,450
Running Man - Bronze, 21 cm high, edition of 12, £1,500
Waving Man - Bronze, 23 cm high, edition of 20, £1,500
Flat Man - Bronze, 13 cm high, edition of 200, £1,100
More recently Giles Penny has produced several original digital drawings, the last two were launched at the 2019 RWA (Royal West of England Academy) Annual Open Exhibition:
‘Stupid Boy’, digital print, 58 x 41 cm, £175.
‘Hetty’, digital print, 47 x 34 cm, £150
‘Washing’, digital print, 47 x 34 cm, £150
Finally, we present three relief, wall pieces. These are all open edition, resin sculptures.
Being an open edition the cost can be kept low, and so accessible for all budgets.
‘Finger in the Soup’, resin, open edition, 23 x 32 cm - £195
‘Shedman’, resin, open edition, 26 x 22 cm - £195
‘Man in a Disk’, resin, open edition, 23 x 39 cm - £195