Simone Kennedy Doig: Waist deep

Baert Gallery is pleased to present Waist Deep an exhibition of new works by the London-based artist Simone Kennedy Doig (b. 1994 in London) in her first solo show in Los Angeles.

This exhibition presents paintings from two significant periods of Kennedy Doig’s life. Both bodies of work began in Trinidad, where she spent her formative years, but were completed in London where she now works and resides. The work spans a four year period.

Kennedy Doig says of the work:

 

“The gym paintings were started in 2018 after graduating from Slade School of Fine Art, when I returned home to Trinidad to be with my long term boyfriend at the time. Shane is a personal trainer and had a gym in his backyard so naturally I spent a lot of time there. I always felt like an outsider but I enjoyed that position as it gave me space to day dream, and observe the environment and the different dynamics between the clientele. They were often tense, gossipy and competitive, which I attempt to portray in this body of work. 

 

I made the swimming pool paintings, in the three months following my mother Bonnie Kennedy’s death upon returning to her house in Trinidad. It was March 2020, the lockdown had just begun. Unable to leave the property, my siblings and I experienced this unique and special time together in mourning. At the time, I made drawings of my sisters and brother around her house as well as her pool. The pool became a symbol of empty space in her absence.”

 

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Simone Kennedy Doig (b. 1994, London) lives and works in London. She is a graduate of the Slade School of Fine Art, London. Recent notable exhibitions include Wild Dogs at Michael Werner gallery, New York, Everything is Personal at TRAMPS, New York, Homework at Madragoa, Lisbon, Portugal, Paint, also known as blood at the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw, Poland, and The Lore of the Land at Churchgate Gallery, Somerset, UK, among others.