Artist: Hettie Inniss

GRIMM presents a solo exhibition of new works by British Caribbean artist Hettie Inniss (b. 1999, London UK). This is the artist’s second solo exhibition with GRIMM and her first at the New York gallery.

Inniss’ recent body of work poses a continuation upon her exploration of scents and sensations and is particularly informed by memories and desire for recollection. In this series, she taps into her ‘cerebral archive’ in order to evoke the sensations from her family kitchen in Hitchin, a town north of London. Focusing on intensity of existence rather than the accuracy of recollection, the artist aims to capture involuntary memories triggered by the senses, particularly the scents from her father’s cooking as well as markets in Wood Green, London.

Inniss’ practice is deeply meditative and requires patience and focus on emotional vulnerability. The artist notes: As a stay-at-home father and carer, my father would often spend hours in the kitchen preparing meals for my family. There was a rich tapestry of scents that roamed the house consistently. In my present day, I am often exposed to these same foods. Whether it is through my own cooking or along the streets of central London, there is an ever-present reminder of what is both lost and gained.

Each painting in this new body of work feeds into the rest. Although she considers her compositions ‘anachronistic’, each work is grounded in lived experience. Weaving together interior and exterior, she recalls the view of the landscape from the window of her home in Hitchin, as well as nondescript architectural details, such as the tiling and doorways.

Inniss’ nuanced approach to materiality further allows her to construct and experiment with what memory can look like. Generally starting with warm, fleshy hues as a base, she experiments with color as each work progresses. She integrates sand and linseed oil throughout the series to create a shift in finish, allowing her to create the effect of two environments within the same canvas. She notes that sand breaks up the texture of the canvas and tones down brightness while also changing the physical sensation of the paint. By playing with visual effects like hyper-exposure, Inniss also aims to evoke digital images, which themselves are a type of memory.

About the artist

Hettie Inniss (b. 1999, London, UK) lives and works in London (UK). Inniss graduated from the Painting MA course at the Royal College of Art, London (UK) in 2023, and was awarded the Sir Frank Bowling Scholarship in 2022. The Tate Collective commissioned her to create an artwork in response to a piece in their collection in October 2023.

Inniss’ most recent exhibitions include: Rememories from the Floating World, GRIMM, London (UK), 2024; Digestif -[diːʒɛˈstiːf], Palazzo Monti, Brescia, Italy (IT), 2024; Episode 1: Bump, Matt Carey-Williams, London (UK), 2024; The Painted Room, curated by Caroline Walker, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL), 2023; I Don't Paint What I See, Berntson Bhattacharje, London (UK), 2023; Somewhere In Between, Hew Hood Gallery, London (UK), 2023; Fluidity, The Night Café, London (UK), 2023; RBA Rising Star, Royal Over-seas League, London (UK), 2023; and Impressions, Subtitle Labs, London (UK). Her work is held in the permanent collection of the AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL); the Hall Art Foundation, Derneburg (DE) and Reading, VT (US); the Lakeside Collection, Rotterdam (NL); the New Light Collection, Yorkshire (UK); the Palazzo Monti Collection, Brescia (IT); and the Rachofsky Collection, Dallas, TX (US).