Jen Roper

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Jen Roper is a London based painter whose figurative works showcase everyday embarrassing situations. She reconstructs her memories of mishaps and confusing encounters that she experiences in everyday life, including while she works as a Tesco delivery driver. In each scene, the viewer is an onlooker, watching as Jen tries to maintain her composure while dealing with odd and humorous interactions. She purposefully makes a spectacle of these uncomfortable moments, exposing the embarrassment she has endured. The paintings linger in a quiet panic and internal scrambling that accompany even the smallest social missteps. Jen places herself in all her paintings; her figure becomes an anchor for the scene and an embodiment of discomfort. By appearing as the protagonist, she invites the viewer to step into the moment with her. She takes ownership of the awkwardness, allowing the viewer to witness not just the event, but her emotional reality within it. She is the punchline. Her figure is a constant thread throughout her work, grounding her practice in autobiography while inviting the viewer to connect with the familiarity within the situations. Her work captures the self-consciousness of being at the centre of a cringeworthy social situation. Jen likens these moments to cringe comedy, mishaps that play out like a sitcom scene. She leans in and plays on the social awkwardness of these moments; she taps into the guilty pleasures of watching these scenarios unfold. With deadpan expressions, her blunt and comedic renditions of the events are infused with a natural sense of humour. With these unpolished moments, Jen explores the awkwardness we all experience when we find ourselves inadvertently placed into the dreaded spotlight. The paintings are unplanned; she intuitively works with a vivid memory with no predetermined composition. Entering each painting session with only a snapshot of the scene in mind, allowing the picture to emerge as she works with her imagination. The unplanned nature of her process mirrors the unpredictable nature of the moments she depicts. She uses her instincts to paint the remembered scene, her cartoonish language of mark making and playful expressions result in paintings that feel both exaggerated and truthful, capturing the absurdity of a situation but remaining rooted in lived experience.

London, Wimbledon

Past Exhibitions:

2025 — HSBC HQ Canary Wharf 'I Still Laugh About It Now'
2024 — Leeds Arts University 'Bunk Beds and Pissing Dogs'
2024 — Liliya Art Gallery, 'It's Really Like That'
2023 — Standpoint Gallery Residency Presentation
2023 — Goodeye Projects, Spring and Summer Residency Show
2023 — Hypha Studios, 'CORPUS'
2023 — Goodeye Projects, Spring Residency Show
2022 — Studio West Gallery, 'NOW Introducing'
2022 — Thames-side Studio Gallery, 'Contemporary British Painting Prize 2022'
2022 — Mall Galleries, 'ING Discerning Eye'
2022 — Huddersfield Art Gallery, 'Contemporary British Painting Prize 2022'
2022 — Wells Art Contemporary
2021 — Hastings Contemporary, 'A Generous Space'
2021 — Online exhibition (Leeds Arts University), 'In These Four Walls'
2020 — Online exhibition (Leeds Arts University), 'And/Now!'

Education:

2022 — MA City and Guilds of London Art School
2021 — BA Leeds Arts University

Residencies:

2023 — Good Eye Projects
2022 — Standpoint Gallery

Awards:

2023 — The Eaton Fund
2022 — A-N Artist Bursary
2022 — ING Discerning Eye Drawing Bursary
2021 — The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award