Born in Grenada in 1956, Denzil Forrester moved to London in 1967 and now lives and works in Cornwall, UK. Forrester received a BA in Fine Art from the Central School of Art, London, in 1979 and an MA in Fine Art from the Royal College of Art, London, in 1983. He was awarded the decoration of Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in December 2020. Forrester received the Morley Fellowship from Morley College, London, in 2019; a Harkness Fellowship in New York in 1986-88; and a scholarship from the British School at Rome in 1983-85.
Forrester was recently included in The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure, which was curated by Ekow Eshun and toured from the National Portrait Gallery, London, to The Box, Plymouth; Philadelphia Museum of Art; and North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh (2024–25). In 2023, major solo exhibitions of his work opened at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Forrester was awarded the 2021 South Bank Sky Arts Award for his solo exhibition Itchin & Scratchin, which travelled from Nottingham Contemporary to Spike Island, Bristol (2020–21). A large-scale public artwork for Brixton Underground Station was unveiled by Transport for London in September 2019. His work was the focus of three solo exhibitions curated by Peter Doig and Matthew Higgs at the Jackson Foundation, St Just, Cornwall (2018); White Columns, New York (2016); and Tramps, London (2016).
In recent years, notable group exhibitions include the Backyard Biennial: East, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2026); The Music is Black: A British Story, V&A East Museum, London (2026); Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2026); London Calling, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague (2026); The Power of Drawing, Royal Drawing School, London (2025); Beautiful Collisions, SXSW London (2025); Drawing the Unspeakable, Towner Eastbourne (2024); Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music, British Library, London (2024); Thin Skin, Monash University Museum of Art, Caulfield East (2023); Is it morning for you yet?, 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (2022); Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2022); Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 50s – Now, Tate Britain, London (2021); Mixing It Up: Painting Today, Hayward Gallery, London (2021); and Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers, Somerset House, London (2019).
Forrester’s works can be found in the collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Tate, UK; Arts Council Collection, UK; Government Art Collection, UK; and Long Museum, Shanghai, amongst many others.
2024
Two Islands, One World, Stephen Friedman Gallery and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2023
We Culture, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL, USA
With Q, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
Duppy Conqueror, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO, USA
2021
Itchin & Scratchin, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham; Spike Island, Bristol, UK
2020
Denzil Forrester in Rome, 30 Old Burlington Street, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
2019
Brixton Blue, TFL Commission, Brixton Underground Station, London, UK
A Survey, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
2018
From Trench Town to Porthtowan, Jackson Foundation, St Just, UK
2016
Denzil Forrester, White Columns, New York, NY, USA
Denzil Forrester, Tramps, London, UK
2002
Two Decades of Painting, The Edward Wilmot Blyden Project, 4 Victoria Street, Bristol, UK
1996
Memory and Images, Peterborough Museum & Art Gallery, Peterborough, UK
1995
Farewell to Shadowland, 198 Gallery, London, UK
1990
Dub Transition, Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle; Usher Gallery, Lincolnshire; Smith Art Gallery, Stirling; Boundary Gallery, London; The Angel Row, Nottingham; Lancaster Gallery, Coventry, UK
1987
Limelight Club, New York, NY, USA
1986
Drawing Exhibition, Commonwealth Institute, London, UK
1983
Pagan Echoes, Riverside Studios, London, UK
2026
I dwell in Possibility, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK
Backyard Biennial: East, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
Joyful Noise, Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, UK
Dance Out, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK
Salon, Lismore Castle Arts, Waterford, Ireland
The Music is Black: A British Story, V&A East Museum, London, UK
Curtain Up, Lowry, Manchester, UK
Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL, USA
London Calling, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, Netherlands
2025
Seeds of Hope and Hate, Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, UK
Dance Your Way Home, Southbank Centre, London, UK
The Power of Drawing: Marking 25 Years of the Royal Drawing School, Royal Drawing School, London, UK
Beautiful Collisions, SXSW London, London, UK
Lives Less Ordinary: Working-Class Britain Re-seen, Two Temple Place, London, UK
Revival, Galleria Francesca Minini, Milan, Italy
2024
The Street: Curated by Peter Doig, Gagosian, New York, NY, USA
Drawing the Unspeakable, Towner Eastbourne, Eastbourne, UK
Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music, British Library, London, UK
The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK; The Box, Plymouth, UK; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC, USA
2023
The Place I Am, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
Thin Skin, Monash University Museum of Art, Caulfield East, Australia
The Rejectionists: The Drawing Center Collective Benefit Exhibition with Pace, Pace Gallery, New York, NY, USA
10 Years Anniversary Show – PART 2, Long Museum, Shanghai, China
Papertrail, Matthew Brown, Los Angeles, CA, USA
A voice answering a voice, Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany
2022
Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
Grayson’s Art Club, Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, UK
Dark Light, Realism in the Age of Post truth: Selections from the Aïshti Foundation Collection, Aïshti Foundation, Antelias, Lebanon
Is it morning for you yet?, 58th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
because the night belongs to us, The Box, Plymouth, UK
Captured Beauty, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange, Cornwall, UK
Legacies: London Transport’s Caribbean Workforce, London Transport Museum, London, UK
2021
Coventry Biennial: Hyper-Possible, Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry, UK
Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 50s – Now, Tate Britain, London, UK
Mixing It Up: Painting Today, Hayward Gallery, London, UK
Modern Conversations, Tate St Ives, Cornwall, UK
2020
25 Years, Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, UK
Everything is Personal, Tramps, New York, NY, USA
Frieze LIVE, curated by Victor Wang, 9 Cork Street, London, UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
2019
Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers, Somerset House, London, UK
Artists I Steal From, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London, UK
2017
Sputterances, Metro Pictures, New York, NY, USA
Sixty Years, Collection Display: Walkthrough British Art, Tate Britain, London, UK
2008
Quad, The Gallery in Cork Street, London, UK
2007
Artists Doing It for Themselves, Burlington Arcade, London, UK
2006
Artists Doing It for Themselves, Thurloe Road, London, UK
2005
Artists Doing It for Themselves, Farringdon, London, UK
2001
Fresh Art, Business Design Centre, London, UK
2000
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
The Painting & Drawing Department, Morley Gallery, London, UK
The Selectors, Madeleine Pearson Gallery, London, UK
1997
Transforming the Crown: African, Asian and Caribbean Artists in Britain, 1966-1996, Caribbean Cultural Center, Bronx Museum of the Arts and Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, USA
Foundations of Fame, The London Institute, London, UK
1996
Imagined Communities, Oldham Gallery, Oldham; John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton, Southampton; Firstsite, Colchester; Walsall Museum and Art Gallery, Walsall; Royal Festival Hall, London; Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, UK
1995
Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
The London Art Group, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
1990
Rome Scholars 1980-90, Royal College of Art, London, UK
1989
Caribbean Expressions in Britain, Leicester Museum & Art Gallery, Leicester, UK
1988
New Figurative Painters, The Orangery, London, UK
Figuring Out the 80s, Laing Gallery, Newcastle, UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Painters at the Royal College of Art, 150th Anniversary Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK
1987
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
1986
From Two Worlds, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UKOpen Exhibition, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK
1985
Six Artists in Action, Madeleine Pearson Gallery, London, UK
Rome Scholars Final Show, Academia Britannica, Rome, Italy
Bisonte Gallery, Florence, Italy
Wolfson College Gallery, Oxford, UK
1984
Open Show, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK
Five Artists in Action, Madeleine Pearson Gallery, London, UK
Ten Artists, Accademia Britannica, Rome, Italy
1983
Black on Black, Creation for Liberation, London, UK
Six Artists in Action, Madeleine Pearson Gallery, London, UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Post Graduate Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London, UK
Germinations, Trilateral Art Exhibition, London, UK; Edinburgh, UK; Kassel, Germany; Lille, France
1982
Drawings and Prints, Madeleine Pearson Gallery, London, UK
Four Man Show, Sadler's Wells Gallery, London, UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
1981
Six Man Show, Madeleine Pearson Gallery, London, UK
1979
Basement Art Group, CYC Gallery, London, UK
Graduate Exhibition, Central School of Art, London, UK
1977
Basement Art Group, CYC Gallery, London, UK
2026
Elena Crippa, Thijs de Raedt, Gregory Salter, Sanjukta Sunderason, London Calling, exh. cat., Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague
Carla Acevedo-Yates (ed.), Dancing the Revolution: From Dancehall to Reggaetón, exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago
2025
The Power of Drawing: Marking 25 Years of the Royal Drawing School, exh. cat., Royal Drawing School, London
2024
Erin Dziedzic, Gean Moreno, Mora J. Beauchamp-Byrd, Christopher Partridge, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Denzil Forrester: Duppy Conqueror / We Culture, exh. cat., Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
Ekow Eshun, Bernardine Evaristo, Esi Edugyan, Dorothy Price, The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure, exh. cat., National Portrait Gallery, London
Wang Wei, The Tenth Anniversary of the Long Museum, exh. cat., Long Museum, Shanghai
2023
The Rejectionists, exh. cat., Pace Gallery, New York; The Drawing Center, New York
Jennifer Higgie (ed.), Thin Skin, exh. cat., Monash University Museum of Art, Caulfield East
2022
Carla Acevedo-Yates (ed.), Forecast Form: Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today, exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago
Jo Baring (ed.), Revisiting Modern British Art, exh. cat., The Higgins, Bedford; The Lightbox, Woking
2021
Ralph Rugoff (ed.), Mixing It Up: Painting Today, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London
Coventry Biennial: Hyper-Possible, exh. cat., Herbert Art Gallery & Museum, Coventry
Matt Price (ed.), The Anomie Review of Contemporary British Painting 2, Anomie Publishing, London
Alex Farquharson, David A. Bailey, Life Between Islands: Caribbean-British Art 50s – Now, exh. cat., Tate Britain, London
2020
Stephen Friedman, Jennifer Higgie, Marcia Fortes, Howard Rachofsky, Karin Mamma Andersson, David Shrigley, 25 Years, exh. cat., Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
2019
Ceri Hand, Chiedza Mhondoro, Zak Ové (eds.), Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers, exh. cat., Somerset House, London
Peter Doig, Sam Thorne, Eddie Chambers, Denzil Forrester, exh. cat., Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
2018
Kurt Jackson, From Trench Town to Porthtowan, exh. cat., Jackson Foundation, St Just
1990
Denzil Forrester, John Lyons, Peter de Francia, Levi Tafari, Dub Transition: Denzil Forrester, a decade of paintings 1980–1990, exh. cat., Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston
2021
South Bank Sky Arts Award, UK
Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE)
2019
Morley Fellowship, Morley College, London, UK
2000
The Scottish Gallery Diana King Prize, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, UK
1987
Koren-Ferry International Award, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, UK
1986
Harkness Fellowship, New York, NY, USA
1983
Scholarship, British School at Rome, Rome, Italy
Lebanon
Aïshti Foundation, Antelias
UK
Arts Council Collection
Government Art Collection
Tate
Morley College, London
Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston
USA
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
China
Long Museum, Shanghai