artist profile: paul kenny

British artist Paul Kenny (b.1951) has won the studio art category of the Close-up Photographer of the Year Award for Copper Works No. 25 (2024).The awards celebrate the art of close-up, macro + micro photography across seven categories, themed this year around 'death + decay'. eve is proud to feature Paul's works, with thanks to London's MMX Gallery. Here, for eve's first artist profile, we speak to Paul about his work.

What world do you create or capture through your photography?
Visionary Landscapes

Your signature style: do you look for it, or does it find you?
I’ve been developing my work for over 50 years + my signature style has evolved from my practice + processes.

Which of your works listed on eve still holds your attention?

Mapping the Standline, Sea - Metal - Plastic (2016).

It took three years of beach walking in the west of Ireland to collect enough fragments of scratched 7UP bottles to cut out 16 regular pieces.

A large iron washer, also found on an Irish beach, was then placed + seawater from that beach dripped under over a two month period.

The resulting image reflects my regular themes of nature, beauty, decay, pollution, transition + the connection between the natural world + human impact.

Does the way you look at your own work change over time?
Of course. I’ve started to used the analogy of a rope or cable. Initially it was a thin few stranded affair with a few weak strands about beauty, wilderness + links between the micro + the macro….over 52 years threads have been add + twisted i. The original threads can still be observed but now surrounded by many other complex ideas.

Tell us about a space where your work features in complete harmony.
I was commissioned to create a mural [featured below] for the restaurant of the An Lantair Arts centre in Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides island of Harris in Scotland.

I spent two weeks collecting material on the coastal fringes of the remote islands + created a work that was printed 26 foot by 8 foot.

What was your standout moment of 2025?

The huge lifetime retrospective show of Andy Goldsworthy work at the National Gallery of Scotland. Andy was very encouraging to me early in my career + is a buyer of my work.

What are you working on or exploring for 2026?
This year I launched a new body of work with the overall title of URBANWorks.

Three years ago - at the age of 72 + after 35 years living in rural/coastal tranquility - my wife + I relocated to the centre of a large city. It took a long time to make work I was happy with.

The move stirred many memories of my upbringing in post industrial revolution inner city + I just followed my instincts + applied my processes, principles + techniques developed over 50 years to my new environment.

The results are a challenging + vibrant set of works made from everyday materials found in an urban setting.

Photography's 200th birthday is in 2026. Do you feel part of this lineage?
For the last 54 years my medium has been photography but, as I have developed the themes + motifs in the work so the photographic medium medium itself has undergone cataclysmic changes....so my work has moved with it. New technologies create opportunities to add depth, impact + layers.

From analog to digital
From monochrome to colour.
From plain air to studio.
From conventional camera to scanner
From paper prints to transparency on lightboxes
From still to moving image

The only constant has been the reliance on purely photographic processes as my chosen medium.

I have always struggled to get across the idea that photography is just a medium of image making The same as oil pain or charcoal…it has nothing inherent + everything in the way it is used.

I often ask critics of photography as art to offer their definition of photography + usually people struggle. I've spent years refining my own definition that fits my use of photography.

Photography is …..

The use of science + technology to organise light in a considered + deliberate manner so it falls upon a light sensitive surface where it can be permanently recorded for future use in image making.

What type of person gravitates to your work?
Thoughtful people who love beautiful things. People who delight in the natural world + have concerns about the impact of human activity.

What do collectors tell you about living with your work?
People love the complexity of my work. It makes an immediate impact from a distance + becomes richer through intimate inspection.

Why should someone collect photography right now?
As I said previously it’s a medium not a message. Photography has the ability to make amazing complex images which tell stories not just about the world, but also about what the artist thinks about the world. Buy because you love the image + feel it will add pleasure to your life for many years.

One photographer - living or dead - whose work you'd buy tomorrow if money were no object?