Robyn Denny

About

Born in Surrey, England, Robyn Denny (1930–2014) was one of an internationally acclaimed group who transformed British art in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Inspired by the scale and energy of Abstract Expressionism emerging from the US, Denny developed his own unique language of painting and printmaking, which drew from popular culture, urban modernity and American films.

Graduating from the Royal College of Art in 1957, Denny was one of the organisers of the now legendary 1960 exhibition Situation which marked a dramatic shift away from the mainstream abstraction of the St Ives School to a new style of painting. In 1966, Denny represented Britain at the Venice Biennale and in 1973 was the recipient of a Tate retrospective, the youngest artist at the time to receive this honour.

In 1981 Denny moved to Los Angeles where he lived for much of that decade, the influence of the Southern Californian light bringing about a profound change in his work. From the 1990s until his death in 2014, Denny worked intensely on groups of monumental canvases and works on paper, many of which have never been exhibited before. In 2017 and 2018, Denny was the subject of posthumous exhibitions at the Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange in Penzance and the New Art Centre in Wiltshire.

Robyn Denny’s work can be found in the collection of public institutions such as Tate, London; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Arts Council of England; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Arts Institute, Chicago; the National Gallery of Australia, Sydney; the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; the Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven; the Scottish National Gallery for Modern Art, Edinburgh and the British Council. 

Vardaxoglou Gallery represents the Estate of Robyn Denny and in spring 2024 will present its first Robyn Denny exhibition, bringing together works from the 1950s through to the 2010s.