Fionn Wilson

Biography

Fionn Wilson (b. South Shields, 1972) is a London-based figurative painter, originally from the north east.

In 2022 she was commissioned by Wetherspoon to paint three portraits of poet Stevie Smith for ‘The Alfred Herring’ in Palmers Green and curated and painted for an exhibition celebrating the life of actress Fenella Fielding, working with Simon McKay of The Fenella Fielding Foundation. She has recently co-curated an exhibition looking at the 1963 scandal the Profumo Affair, with Professor of British Cinema Steve Chibnall, which is currently showing at The Gallery at De Montfort University, Leicester until April 15th (2023). The exhibition was named 'Exhibition of the Week' by art critic Jonathan Jones in The Guardian (March 3, 2023).

She is currently working on a series of paintings of Charles Holden tube stations in the Enfield area, which will become part of the public collection of the Museum of Enfield.

Recent exhibitions include 'Picture Palace' (2020) at Transition Gallery, BEEP Painting Biennale (2020) at elysium gallery and 'Without Borders' (2021–22) a touring exhibition travelling to Japan, Norway, USA, Venice, Canada and Wales.

From 2016 to 2020 she organised, curated and painted for 'Dear Christine', an ACE-supported touring group exhibition paying tribute to sixties icon Christine Keeler (Vane, elysium gallery and Arthouse1 from 2019–20) (for which she was named ‘Woman of the Year’ by British Women Artists) and completed a series of portraits of political activist, historian and writer Tariq Ali (2018–2019).

Other curatorial projects have included 'My sex, my self' (2016) at Hornsey Town Hall Arts Centre — a group exhibition of artists examining sexuality and sensuality through self portraiture. She was a judge’s favourite (writer Jan Woolf) in the International Women’s Erotic Art competition, 2013.

She has exhibited at the annual open exhibition of the Royal Society of British Artists (2016), the Royal Scottish Academy open exhibition (2016) and the Enniskillen Visual Arts Open (2016). Three of her paintings were selected for the National Open Art finalists’ exhibition (2016). Her work was recently included in a four-museum tour of China as part of the exhibition 'Contemporary Masters from Britain (80 works from the Priseman Seabrook collection)' (2017–18) and 'Made in Britain: 82 painters of the 21st century' at the National Museum, Gdansk (2019). Her paintings were selected for the ING Discerning Eye (2017) and Contemporary British Painting’s winter group show (2017).

From 2012–2013 she set up and ran the not-for-profit SPACE art gallery in Southgate, London, in a disused bank where she curated and hung seven exhibitions of work from local and international artists. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2016.

Public collections

Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust (two paintings)
De Montfort University Leicester
Hillingdon Museum and Archive
Marx Memorial Library (two paintings)
Museum of Enfield
Museum of London
Museum of National History of Denmark (two paintings)
National Coal Mining Museum, England
Priseman Seabrook Collection of 21st Century British Painting (six paintings)
UCLH art collection (two paintings)
J D Wetherspoon collection (three paintings)
Yantai Art Museum, China