Get to Know the Artists: Jen Orpin

We know that our discerning customers love fine food and travel as well as art, so we asked our artists to share some thoughts with us. Here is the fifth in our series: Jen Orpin.

If you could own one work of art, money no object, from any time in history what would it be and why?

I went to see an exhibition by Marlene Dumas about 3 years ago at the Tate, the expression of emotion she portrays in her paintings blew me away. I'd happily live with several of her pieces.

Describe your favourite meal. Some years ago I went on a 5 day wine tasting trip to Sicily. We stayed in the grounds of a beautiful vineyard surrounded by vines and olive groves and we went to a different place to eat every day. This was probably some of the finest food I have ever eaten. Every day was a complete celebration of what their land and sea had to offer, oh and the wine was pretty good too!  

If you could live anywhere else in the country, the world, the universe, where would that be and why?

I might've said New York before a certain someone got into power!  I've lived on the edge of the city for nearly 20 years and I think the older I get the more I crave the countryside or coast but whenever I spend time away from the city I wonder how I could live anywhere else. About 9 years ago we flew to Sydney and picked up a campervan and took to the open road, now that's something I could get used to! 

Jen graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in 1996 with a degree in Fine Art. She joined Rogue Artist Studios, Manchester in 1999.

Jen has exhibited a diverse range of work in our gallery; beautiful landscapes of Scottish highlands and urban landscapes around Manchester - finding beauty in unusual settings. We love Jen's use of colour and light. In our current exhibition, 'Being Allowed to Look' Jen has recreated sections of Johannes Vermeer's famous paintings of women engaged in domestic chores. She has replaced the objects of their focus with everyday symbols of female oppression to challenge complacency in regards to the battle for gender equality. Here is one of the 3 paintings in the series, 'Maid in 2008' (the date of the first genetically cultivated blue rose): There is an undeniable and endless pressure on women to improve on or cheat nature. Click on the link to see more https://www.saulhayfineart.co.uk/jen-orpin

We are looking forward to showing Jen's work in the Manchester Art Fair in October.

Made in 2008,oil on board