DETAILS
Born: 1978 Dublin, Ireland
Resides and works in Brighton, UK
1997-2001: BA Visual Communications, UWE, Bristol, UK
Studio: Unit 2, 9-10 Jew Street Brighton

REPRESENTATION
Circle Contemporary Gallery

EXHIBITIONS
NEXT 2026: Odyssey (Group Exhibition) Hastings Contemporary, Hastings, UK
2026: London Art Fair 2026, London, UK
2025, Autumn Selective (Group Exhibition), Circle Contemporary, Cornwall, UK
2025, Subjects In Motion (Group Exhibition), Circle Contemporary, Cornwall, UK
2024, Unity (Group Exhibition), Helm Gallery, Brighton, UK
2024, Open (Group Exhibition), Atelier Gallery, Brighton, UK

COMMISSIONS & COLLECTIONS
Private collections in UK, US and Europe.

STATEMENT
Ian Fenton is an Irish artist based in Brighton, UK, who works primarily with large-scale relief collage. His works, typically between one and two metres in scale, are constructed from hand-painted paper using predominantly water-based paints. Cut, layered and assembled by hand, these painted elements form compositions that move between painting and low relief, emphasising surface, depth and the physical presence of the material. A restrained palette of blues, sometimes punctuated by small interruptions of orange, has become a defining feature of the work.

Collage is the central language of Fenton’s practice. Working entirely by hand, he approaches the medium as both a material investigation and a personal form of exploration. The compositions, often semi-abstract, emerge through an intuitive process of cutting and arrangement in which experimentation with paper, paint and structure is balanced with quieter emotional undercurrents. Themes of reflection, queer identity, displacement and restraint subtly inform the work, while the tactile qualities of paper remain central to its visual and physical presence.