Lupen Crook [b. 1981, Medway] has been an active artist since his teenage years, predominantly through painting and songwriting. Self-taught, it was later in 2017 that he graduated from London College of Communication, where he explored videography, book arts, and printing techniques. Now working as a full-time oil painter, his work has been displayed in Saatchi Gallery and featured by Contemporary British Painting. He currently lives and works in Ramsgate, Kent.
At the centre of Crook's practice lies an instinctual compulsion to create, using the rich physicality of oil paint with the textural interplay of mixed media as his primary form of communication. His work offers a window into an imaginative, internal world of personal memories, nostalgia, hope, and wonder, as well as exploring moments of peace, connection, and magic in a chaotic modern world. It is one informed by his experiences with mental illness, and Crook remains an advocate for the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of art.