KENNETH DRAPER RA
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“His generosity of spirit, his energy
and his love of life are reflected in his work. Amid so much art that
is glib, meretricious and spiritually empty, Draper is producing work
that ravishes the eye and nourishes the
soul.” Roger Berthoud, journalist, art
historian and author of ‘The Life and Art of Kenneth Draper
Kenneth
Draper RA (born 1944) was elected to be a Member of the Royal Academy
in 1991. Having studied painting at Kingston School of Art, Draper went
on to study sculpture at the Royal College of Art where he pursued his
passion of the three dimensional form: pushing the boundaries of
sculpture and exploring form and space beyond pure painting. Many of
these early sculptures were made of wood, steel and resin (materials
Draper still uses today) and were massive in scale – some more than
16ft high. At this time, Draper started to explore ways of
incorporating paint into these structures to give them a feeling of
weightlessness; this is a continuing theme that runs through his work
over 40 years later - his work now evolving into smaller, yet hugely
powerful and dramatic sculptural constructions on paper and
board.
“My work always creates a dialogue
between sculpture, painting and drawing. The explosions in my new work
on paper respond to the piercing beauty and ravaged landscape of my
home on the Spanish island of
Menorca.”
Ken Draper RA
Draper’s talent was recognised at the age of 21 by the Redfern
Gallery in Cork Street who at that time were one of the relatively few
galleries in the London’s West End to promote “modern” art; Henry Moore
and Barbara Hepworth had made their public debuts there in a mixed show
in 1924. Draper had his first group show with them in 1965, followed by
a solo exhibition in 1969 and he has continued to exhibit
internationally with numerous galleries including the Whitechapel Art
Gallery; the Courtauld; the Fitzwilliam Museum; the Hayward Gallery;
Flowers East; the Hart Gallery; Art Miami, Florida; Glenn Green
Gallery, Santa Fe, the Geneva Art Fair; Adelson Galleries, New York;
The Royal Academy; the list goes on……
Draper has lived and travelled all over the world amassing
inspiration for his work: the Grand Canyon, Arizona; Echo and Bandelier
Canyon in New Mexico; Africa; Pakistan, India; Egypt and the Nile; USA,
extensively throughout Europe including; the stunning island of Menorca
where he now lives with his wife, the photographer, Jean
Macalpine.
Wherever he is, Draper is always observing the living
landscape around him: the seasons, the physical earth beneath his feet,
the time of day, the play of light and shadows: all these elements
becoming part of his work. Drawing on these elements around him, Draper
then creates intricate sculptures which together with ‘found’ objects
within real landscapes, are incorporated into his constructions which
then come alive with his use of pigment to give the viewer’s eyes a
sensual feast. “If you’re an artist of place and the feelings
about that place, then those feelings are also being created when
you’re making the work of art. I don’t want to make a construction or a
drawing that reminds the viewer of a place. I want it to be the place.
The event is the picture.”
Kenneth Draper’s work can be found major Public
and Corporate Collections:
Arts Council of
Great Britain
Arts Council of
Wales
Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford
Arthur Anderson,
London
Contemporary Art Society,
London
Cartwright Hall Museum and Art
Gallery, Bradford
Courtauld Institute,
London
De Beer’s Collection,
London
Fitzwilliam Museum and Art Gallery,
Cambridge
Harris Museum and Art Gallery,
Preston, Lancashire
ICI,
London
International Bank of Japan,
London
Leicestershire Education
Authority
Lloyds of
London
M.A. Braganza & Co,
London
Mappin Art Gallery,
Sheffield,
Mischon de Reya,
London
McCrory Corporation, New York,
USA
National Museum of Wales,
Cardiff
National Westminster Bank,
London
Pearl Assurance,
London
Royal Life
Group
TSB Bank,
London
Unilever PLC,
London
Usher Gallery,
Lincoln
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer,
London
Hammersmith Hospital,
London
St. George’s Hospital,
London
Solo Exhibitions
2009 Art London, Lisa Sharpe Contemporary Art
2007 Castlegate House Gallery,
Cumbria
2006 Royal Academy of Arts,
London
2004 Studio 3,
London
2003 Hart Gallery,
London
2002 Hart Gallery,
London
2000 Hart Gallery,
London
1998 New Ashgate Gallery,
Farnham
Hart Gallery, London
1996 Hart Gallery,
London
Hart Gallery, Nottingham
1995 Peter Bartlow Gallery,
Chicago,
USA
Bridport Arts Centre, Bridport,
Dorset
Hart Gallery, London
1994 Hart Gallery,
London
Studio 3, London
1993 Adelson Gallery, New York,
USA
Hart Gallery,
Nottingham
Royal Academy of Arts, London
1991 Glenn Green Gallery, Santa
Fe, New Mexico,
USA
Austin Desmond Gallery,
London
Grape Lane Gallery, York
1990 Hampstead Theatre
Gallery, London
1984 Gallerie Nouvelles Images, Den
Haag, Holland
1982 The Minories,
Colchester
Chapter Art Gallery, Cardiff, Wales
1981 Alpirsbach
Gallerie, Alpirsbach,
Germany
EGK Galleries, Stuttgart,
Germany
Warwick Arts Trust, London
1978 Redfern Gallery,
London
Cartwright Hall, Museum and Art Gallery, Bradford,
Yorkshire
1969 Redfern Gallery,
London
Group
Exhibitions
2009 Royal
Academy Summer Exhibition
2008 “A Century of Sheffield Art” Millennium Gallery,
Sheffield
Derwent-Wye Fine Art, Rowsley, Derbyshire
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
Invited Artist, Pastel Society, The Mall Galleries,
London
2007 “Homage to Menorca”, Sa Nostra
Foundation, Menorca. Two person exhibition with Jean
Macalpine
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
“Circa 1976” Milton Keynes Gallery, Works from the Arts Council
Collection
Castlegate House Gallery, Cumbria
2006 Royal Academy
Summer Exhibition, London
2005 Royal Academy Summer
Exhibition,
London
Castlegate House Gallery, Summer Exhibiton,
Cumbria
2004 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
2003 Contemporary Sculpture, Palm Beach,
Florida
EUROP’ART,
Geneva
Contemporary Art Fair, Chelsea,
London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
‘Sterling Stuff’ Royal Academy,
London
2002 Contemporary Art Fair, Chelsea,
London
Twentieth Century Art Fair, Royal College of Art,
London
Gallery in Cork Street,
London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
2001 Contemporary Art Fair, Geneva,
Switzerland
International Art Exposition, Chicago,
USA
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
Twentieth Century Art Fair, Royal College of Art,
London
Contemporary Art Fair, Chelsea, London
2000 ‘Art
Miami 2000’ Florida,
USA
Contemporary Art Fair, Chelsea,
London
Twentieth Century Art Fair, Royal College of Art,
London
‘Fusion’ Riverhouse Gallery,
Walton-on-Thames
1999 ‘Art Miami 99’ Florida,
USA
‘
Art 99’ Islington,
London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
Triennial Sculpture Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy,
Bristol
‘Contemporary British Landscape’ Flowers East,
London
1998 ‘Art Miami 98’ Florida,
USA
‘Art 98’ Islington,
London
‘The Poetry of Place’ Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery,
Suffolk
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
1997 ‘Art
Miami 97’ Florida,
USA
‘Art 97’ Islington,
London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
1996 ‘Art
Miami 96’ Florida,
USA
‘Art 96’ Islington,
London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
Twentieth Century British Art Fair, London
1995 ‘Art
95’ Islington,
London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
Geneva Art Fair, Geneva,
Switzerland
Manchester Fine Arts Fair,
Manchester
Twentieth Century Art Fair, Royal College of Art,
London
Group Exhibition, Adelson Galleries, New York,
USA
1994 Contemporary Art Society Market,
London
Bridport Arts Centre,
Dorset
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
Works on Paper, Adelson Galleries, New York,
USA
Chesil Gallery, Portland,
Dorset
Twentieth Century Art Fair, Royal College of Art,
London
‘Space Redefined’ Shad Thames Galleries, Butlers Wharf,
London
‘Small is Beautiful’ Flowers East,
London
‘Landscape’ New Academy Gallery, London
1993 Royal
Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
‘Art 93’ Islington,
London
Chicago International Art Expostion,
USA
‘Painting the Earth’ John Jones Gallery,
London
Contemporary Art Society Market,
London
‘Small is Beautiful’ Flowers East,
London
1992 ‘Aspects of British Abstraction, The
Poetic Trace’ Adelson Galleries, New York,
USA
‘British Sculpture in the Twentieth Century’ Millfield,
Somerset
‘Landscape’ On Line Gallery,
Southampton
‘Sense of Place’ Cleveland Bridge Gallery,
Bath
‘Art 92’ Islington,
London
Contemporary Art Society Market,
London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
1991 Contemporary Art Fair, Miami,
USA
‘Art 91’ Islington,
London
ICAF Olympia,
London
‘Stonewall’ ICA Galleries,
London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
Contemporary Art Society Market,
London
Wessex Artists, Parnham House,
Dorset
Group Exhibition, On Line Gallery,
Southampton
1990 International Gallery Invitational
Art Fair, Chicago,
USA
Contemporary International Art Exposition, Chicago,
USA
‘Art 90’ Islington,
London
ICAF Olympia,
London
Group Exhibition, Glenn Green Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico,
USA
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
Bath Art Fair,
Bath
Group Exhibition, Louise Hallett Gallery,
London
Contemporary Art Fair, Sydney,
Australia
Contemporary Art Society Market,
London
1989 Contemporary International Art
Exposition, Chicago,
USA
Contemporary Art Society Market,
London
Artist in Residence, Chesil Gallery, Portland,
Dorset
1988 Contemporary International Art
Exposition, Chicago,
USA
Group Exhibition, Louise Hallett Gallery,
London
Warwick Arts Trust Collection, Warwick Arts Trust,
London
Art
in the Market Place, Bury St Edmunds,
Suffolk
Contemporary Art Society Market,
London
‘Landscape’
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
1987 Contemporary
International Art Exposition, Chicago,
USA
‘Art
for the City’ Lloyds of
London
Contemporary Art Society Market,
London
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
‘Hunter Collection of Twentieth Century Modern Masters’ Courtauld
Gallery, London
1986 ‘Hidden Landscape’ Juda Rowan
Gallery,
London
Contemporary Art Society Market,
London
1985 Contemporary Art Society Market,
London
1984 ‘Questions About Sculpture’ Arts Council
touring
Exhibition
Group Exhibition, Friedus Ordover Gallery, New York,
USA
1983 The Sculpture Show, Hayward Gallery,
London
Group Exhibition, Studio Odd, Hiroshima,
Japan
‘Small is Beautiful’ Angela Flowers Gallery,
London
1982 ‘Coloured Constructions’ Ikon Gallery,
Birmingham
1981 ‘British Sculpture in the Twentieth
Century’ Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
1980 ‘The
Human Factor’ Arts Council Touring
Exhibition
‘The British Art Show’ Mappin Art Gallery, Sheffield (and
tour)
1979 Tolly Cobbold Eastern Arts Exhibition,
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (and
tour)
British Sculptor’s Drawings, The Minories,
Colchester
Contemporary Works on Paper, Gainsborough House,
Sudbury
1978 ‘Fragile Stones Make Art’ National
Museum of Wales,
Cardiff
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
Works on Paper, Artist’s Market, London
1977 Tolly
Cobbold Eastern Arts Exhibition, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (and
tour)
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition,
London
Silver Jubilee Exhibition of Contemporary British Sculpture, Battersea
Park,
London
‘Yorkshire Sculptors’ Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bretton Hall,
Yorkshire
1976 Arts Council, Recent Purchases,
Hayward Gallery, London
1972 ‘British Sculptors ‘72’,
Royal Academy,
London
‘
British Sculptors ‘72’ Related Works, Redfern Gallery,
London
1971 Seven Redfern Artists, Redfern Gallery,
London
British Sculptors Drawings, Bonino Gallery, Buenos Aires (and touring
South
America)
Eight Individuals, Gravers Gallery, Sheffield (and Arts Council
tour)
Jacobs Ladder Inc., Washington DC, USA
1968 Summer
Exhibition, Redfern Gallery, London
1965 Young
Contemporaries
Summer Exhibition, Redfern Gallery,
London
1964 London Group, London
Commissions and Awards
2002 Designed commemorative Poster and Banner for the
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
1981 Sculpture for
Bradford University, Arts Council Project
1976 Arts
Council of Great Britain Bursary
1974 Outdoor
Sculpture for John Dalton Building, University of
Manchester
1971 Mark Rothko Memorial Award, travel
bursary to USA
1965 Young Contemporaries prize for
Sculpture
