Oona Grimes
Oona Grimes is a British artist who works with drawing, printmaking, and film, with storytelling at the centre of her practice. She studied at Norwich School of Art (1982–1986) followed by the Slade School of Fine Art (1986–1988). Self-described as a ‘compulsive storyteller’, Grimes describes her drawings as ‘a celebration of the absurd, a transformation of ordinary objects and a simmering consommé of fact and fiction, an ongoing series of parallel worlds’. Her artworks are rooted in experiences, conversations, and impressions including traditional printing techniques, recycled materials, and cartoon details from Etruscan wall paintings. Printmaking is the preferred medium for Grimes due to its unpredictability, creating tension between the original idea for an artwork and its finished appearance when printed. She was awarded the Bridget Riley Fellowship for a six-month residency at the British School at Rome in 2018 and the Bryan Robertson Award in 2022 and works as a Visiting Lecturer at the Royal College of Art, London, and The Ruskin School of Art, Oxford. She was elected as a Royal Academician in 2023.
Selected Collections
British Library, London
Manchester Metropolitan University
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Further Reading
Cutting room: Oona Grimes. London: Danielle Arnaud, 2000. Exhibition Catalogue.
Sinclair, Iain, with illustrations by Oona Grimes. Hackney, that rose-red empire: a confidential report. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2009.
