Jon Doran (1991) grew up outside London, intensely drawing, skating and surfing from a young age alongside his brother David Doran. After experiencing early success selling and exhibiting his paintings with galleries and winning the young artist award at the Cork Street Open Exhibition in London, he moved to Cornwall in pursuit of the light and wild seas.
He studied Fine Art at Falmouth School of Art, and additionally classical realism at Florence Academy Art. He now paints from his studio by the water, teaches at the renowned Newlyn School of Art and regularly explores Cornwall with his wife and three daughters
His work can be described as a disrupted realism. Drawing on his experiences in skating and graffiti, and blending contemporary art and classical realism, his work utilises multiple visual techniques in pursuit of a reflective, contemplative sense of the sublime. The surface is often streaked with scrapes and slashes, yet as one views it from a distance, the whole is realised. His use of colour is sensitive to the poetry and logic of light working to give the elusive qualities of the Cornwall atmosphere.
Doran is deeply interested in questions around perspective and epistemology, his fragmentary nature of brushwork can be seen as a commentary on the nature of human perception, working on multiple levels - the ontological, geographical, emotional and existential.
“I believe that great art can speak to us on a deep level. On the nature of existence and meaning. I ultimately hope to share a sense of the consolation and coherence I personally experience before beauty, whether it’s in front of a view of mist on the water or amidst the impending rocks of the north coast of Cornwall.”
Jon Doran
Gallery Representation
1261 Delaware St Suite 2, Denver, CO 80204, United States
8-10 Arwenack St, Falmouth, Cornwall, UK TR11 3JA
3 Palace St, Canterbury, Kent, UK CT1 2DY
Solo Shows
2024 - October 24th - November 13th, Jon Doran Recent Works, Beside The Wave Gallery, Cornwall
2024 - May 27th - 2nd June, Jon Doran Recent Paintings, Penryn Arts Centre, Cornwall
2023 - October 28th ‘Into the Deep - Jon Doran solo show’ Abend Gallery, Denver, Colorado USA
2023 - 29th May - 3rd ‘Jon Doran Recent Paintings’, Penryn Art Centre, Cornwall
2022 - November 15th - 25th 2022, ‘Floreum’ at Fine Art Commissions, St James, London
2019 - December, ’Variations’ Abend Gallery, Denver Colorado, USA
2019 - 11 May - 13 July ‘Jon Doran Solo Show’ - Hybrid Gallery, Devon
2019 - February 22nd ‘Fragmentations’ - Lilford Gallery, Kent
2018 - October ‘Arrangements’ - Abend Gallery, Denver, Colorado USA
2017 - 21st April - 7th May. ‘Continuations - Jon Doran Solo Show’ , Beside The Wave Gallery, London
2016 - Autumn. 15th October - 5th November - ‘Jon Doran - Solo show' at Lilford Gallery, Canterbury, Kent
2016 - 4th March - 24th March. Recent Paintings by Jon Doran - Beside The Wave Gallery, London.
2015 - 31st Oct - 18th November - Solo Show. ‘Paint and Perception - Recent Paintings’ - Beside The Wave Gallery, Cornwall.
2011 Jon Doran Solo Exhibition, 7th – 21st February 2011, Peche Art, Sandgate, Kent
Selected group Shows
2025 - ‘Cornish Garden’ at Beside The Wave Gallery, Cornwall
2024 - November ‘A sense of the Divine’ at Gallery 1226, Denver Colorado, USA
2023 - ‘Christmas show’ at Beside The Wave Gallery, Cornwall
2022 - ‘online auction’ Newlyn Art School, Cornwall
2021 & 2022 - Permanent Gallery Exhibition at Cor Art Gallery, Falmouth Cornwall.
2020 - May 1st, 2020. ‘Spring Online Exhibition’ Fine Art Commissions London
2019 - May 21st, Group Show. Nadia Waterfield Gallery Opening. Nadia Waterfield Fine Art, Hampshire, UK.
2019 - May 16 - Jun 1, 2019, Group Show. ‘Observations’, Highgate Contemporary, London UK.
2018 - July Works on display at Sol Art Gallery, Dublin, Ireland.
2018 - May. Affordable Art Fair Hong Kong – Rebecca Hossack gallery, London
2018 - April. Spring Group Show – Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
2018 - March. Affordable Art Fair, London – Rebecca Hossack gallery, London
2017 - December. Works on display – Rebecca Hossack gallery, London
2017 - November. Affordable Art Fair, Singapore. Rebecca Hossack Gallery
2017 - October. Works on display Sol Art, Dublin
2017 - September. Manchester Buy Art Fair – Sol Art Gallery, Dublin
2017 - August. Works on display. Lilford Gallery, Canterbury Kent.
2017 - May - Flowering , Hybrid Gallery Devon
2016 - Affordable Art Fair, Hamstead
2015 - 9th July - Lost and Found - James Freeman Gallery, Islington, London
2015 - January - Spring Show - Beside The Wave Gallery, Falmouth, Cornwall
2014 - November 27th - 20th December - Garden Show - James Freeman Gallery, Islington, London
2014 - October MIDAS selection, Newlyn Contemporary Art Gallery.
EDUCATION
2018 Painting Workshop, Florence Academy of Art
2011 – 2014 (BA) Hon Fine Art, University College Falmouth
2009 - 2010 Foundation Diploma in Art and Design University for the Creative Arts
AWARDS
Shortlisted for the MIDAS Award, Falmouth University, 2014
Young Artist Award, Cork Street Open Exhibition 2013
Honourable Mention and Catalogue cover image, Cork Street Open Exhibition 2010.
OTHER
Oil Painting Tutor at Newlyn School of Art, 2018 - Present
Artist Business Mentor with Cultivator Cornwall, 2020 - 2022
