Jonathan Yeo

Jonathan Yeo

Jonathan Yeo is renowned for his distinctive portraits and is widely considered one of the most prominent figurative painters of our time. His sitters have included many cultural and political icons, including Damien Hirst, Grayson Perry, Kevin Spacey, Dennis Hopper, Sienna Miller, Tony Blair and Malala Yousafzai. He has also explored more conceptual themes jn his Porn Collage Series, which looks at the proliferation of pornography, and his Surgery Series, which explores the prevalent trend for cosmetic surgery.

From 2014 to 2016 he worked closely with model and actress Cara Delevingne on a series of portraits, which were included in his latest and largest retrospective to date at the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, in Denmark. These works look at the how the rise of social media has led to the daily creation of constructed identities and highlight the challenge of depicting individuals who are increasingly proficient at manipulating and changing their own image.

Yeo’s work has been widely exhibited in the UK, USA, and Europe and is featured in prestigious collections including the Royal Collection, the National Portrait Gallery and The Parliamentary Art Collection.

Jonathan Yeo was born in 1970 and lives and works in London. His major mid-career retrospective Jonathan Yeo Portraits, toured over an eighteen month period, starting in 2013, at the National Portrait Gallery, London, The Lowry, Salford and The Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle. His work was also included in From Life (2017/18) at the Royal Academy, London that featured work by Antony Gormley, Lucian Freud and Jenny Saville.