A selection of recent paintings by Cornwall, UK-based artist Jess Allen. Her quiet still-life paintings capture snippets of domestic life, exploring themes of the everyday through the act of painting. She says:

“‘Things’ do have meanings. I have begun to realize this particularly in relation to my book paintings. Maybe people are drawn to them, because they signify an engagement in reading, or the promise a book suggests. Additionally they could also act as a reminder of a certain person and a book which they loved.  

In the recent shadow figures cast across sofas, chairs and bookcases, I am exploring a sense of presence. They are about evoking memory, and about time. Perhaps they inspire connection because of their ordinariness and everydayness. And maybe they stimulate  because they are about a fleeting moment, and how sunlight captures our shadows, our non physical selves, which when recorded we can somehow keep hold of. Just like dust, the shadow remains, even when the person has moved on.”

Jess Allen is represented by Blue Shop Cottage in London. See more of her work below!