Wildness, wild places, and wild energies
in Jake Aikman’s painting
Born in London in 1978, Jake Aikman currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. He holds a Master of Fine Arts (specialising in painting) from the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, obtained in 2008.
Aikman’s work has been presented in notable international exhibitions, including L’Anima Dell’Acqua: The Spirit of Water, an exhibition held in conjunction with the 53rd Venice Biennale, the 4th Beijing International Art Biennale, and the Creative Cities Collection at the Barbican Centre in London during the 2012 Olympic Fine Arts exhibition. His art is included in prominent collections and continues to garner attention for its exploration of atmospheric seascapes and liminal spaces.
With Suburbia Contemporary, Aikman has presented solo exhibitions such as Blistering Barnacles (2024) at Spinnerei Leipzig, Listeners (2023), Still the Light Reaches Us (2021) in Barcelona, and Vestiges (2018) in Granada. His work has also been featured in group exhibitions, including Urban Environments and Imaginary Spaces (2021) and Surroundings (2020), and has been showcased in major art fairs such as the Investec Cape Town Art Fair (2020–2024), FNB Art Joburg (2022–2024), Future Fair New York (2022), Enter Art Fair, Copenhagen (2022), Swab Barcelona (2021), ArteFiera Bologna (2019), and ArtVerona (2019).
Aikman’s artistic journey began with paintings that often included human subjects. Over time, he moved away from the figure, finding it to be a source of narrative distraction and identitarian complexities. His landscape paintings of Central America marked a shift toward unpopulated scenes, while his subsequent work completely abandoned human subjects. This evolution in subject matter was paralleled by a transformation in technique. Since 2013, Aikman has limited his palette to French ultramarine, burnt sienna, sap green, and occasionally Prussian blue. This disciplined restraint has resulted in a body of work distinguished by its austere elegance. His brushwork also evolved, moving from the defined wavy lines seen in early works like Set Adrift I & II (2007) to a more delicate, gauzy application that captures the fleeting and insubstantial qualities of light and atmosphere.
Aikman’s practice is characterised by a focus on isolation, connection, and the meditative qualities of natural and constructed landscapes, inviting viewers into immersive visual experiences. His mature paintings are both entrancing and humbling, evoking the sublimity of wild places and the transient beauty of light and haze.
