Jessica Dunn

Jessica Dunn is a British artist with bases in the Algarve and London.

Born in the UK, into a theatrical family, Jessica Dunn was encouraged by her actor parents to take her own artistic path. After relocating to the Algarve, to enjoy the fantastic southern light and laid back pace of life, she has remained in Portugal, where she paints full time in oils and acrylics.

Her recent works have transitioned from the figurative to the abstract. Her paintings take you on a journey, through textural impressions of land, sea and sky, inspired by the elements, the intense southern sunlight and drama of the ever-changing landscape.

Jessica Dunn exhibited in galleries and museums in Portugal, the UK, France and Italy. Her participation in SIAC (the International Symposium of Contemporary Art) at the Guarda Museum resulted in an invitation to return in 2020 and her work remains in the museum collection. Her work is held in private and public collections worldwide.

She is a member of the Quinta Art Collective and holds an open studio every year at her private home gallery.

Dunn’s paintings have been featured in Hello! Magazine, Wall Street Journal online and World of Interiors magazine.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I am inspired by the Algarve landscape. I try to capture an impression of its transient nature, working across the canvas from dark to light, layer-by-layer, brushing on, scraping off, over and over as a colour-mood begins to develop and a story begins to emerge.

Tonal layering creates an impression of distance and depth and a focal point appears organically, drawing the viewer in.!  Working on several pieces at a time, moving from one to the other with fluidity and energy, a rhythm develops…

For me it´s about the paint and the expressive marks created, which gradually evolve into something familiar, an imagined or remembered landscape, a sea, a sky, or just a feeling!

The visual experience becomes an emotive one, an illusion of being immersed in nature, reflective and timeless, of walking into a painting and feeling lifted.