About the artist

Candice Tripp (b. 1985) is a UK-based South African artist living and working in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Employing childhood motifs, Candice explores human behaviour and interaction. Through a lens shaped by her deep love of horror and storytelling, she reimagines modern pack mentality and groupthink by presenting subjects as credulous characters reminiscent of folklore.

She levels her aim at the rationales people construct to justify their motivations and personal ethics. Her work examines how these justifications appear when the fuller picture is absent, and focuses on what remains standing when the house of cards ultimately falls flat.

Working in both oil painting and sculpture, she presents raw, sobering themes as childhood interactions and narrative forms, playing with literality and the unvarnished truth, and explores how these might appear if conveyed by a child with only the barest facts. Candice is interested in how our choices, ethics, and actions look when the grey areas are removed.

Her career highlights include a breakout solo exhibition at Lazarides Gallery in 2008, solo shows in London (Black Rat Projects) and New York (Joshua Liner Gallery), creating the award-winning artwork for Arrow Video’s release of Donnie Darko, and exhibiting in the inaugural Bangkok Art Biennale in 2018.

“It is the litmus test of a good artist to be able to communicate a commentary without being overwrought. Tripp's ability to portray the leitmotifs of good and evil with balanced symbolism and subtle wit demonstrates her embodiment of this quality.”
~ Lainya Magaña for Hi-Fructose magazine

JEWELLERY

After discovering wax carving, jewellery felt like a natural progression. Her jewellery collection acts as an extension of her art; turning her dark, childlike subjects into miniature, wearable keepsakes. She personally carves each design in wax before having it cast in sterling silver. Recently, she has started to practice stone carving.