Jack Penny : An Appetite That Survives All Feasts

An Appetite That Survives All Feasts is a new body of paintings by Jack Penny exploring greed, appetite and the contradictions of human nature. The title reflects the many “feasts” we encounter and consume throughout life – experiences, ideas, relationships, ambition, pleasure, success and failure – and the instinct to survive one feast only to find an appetite for the next.

The works are at times autobiographical, reflecting Penny’s way of digesting the world around him and unpacking how we behave as humans in an attempt to better understand it himself. As in his wider practice, he rarely begins with fixed imagery or a predetermined outcome. Instead, he works from memory, instinct and a loose concept, allowing ideas and images to emerge through the act of painting.

Chefs have developed into a playful tool within his practice, allowing Penny to explore human behaviour, personality and contradiction with a sense of humour and ambiguity. Moving between order and chaos, humour and unease, the paintings resist straightforward interpretation. Penny deliberately refuses to overexplain his work; for him, there should always be an element of mystery within a painting, a door left open for individual interpretation.

His subjects can appear tragic, comedic, saintly or sinister, embracing the messy, excessive and contradictory nature of being human. Rather than offering definitive answers, the works invite viewers to bring their own associations and readings to what they see.