JEST

An exhibition of humorous reverence and irreverent beauty, Jest brings together two artists: Marvin Humphrey and Jack Blizzard; separated by decades, but united in their wit, craftsmanship, and delight in the absurd.

Marvin is a true sage of the studio, an artist whose decades of painting have refined both his technique and his point of view. His small, luminous works begin in a cartoon state of mind: a pun, a passing joke, or a curious turn of phrase that takes root and won’t let go. With masterful control and a painter’s sensitivity, Humphrey transforms these sparks of humor into richly detailed, beautifully crafted images. There’s a quiet compulsion behind it all, a need to turn thought into form, to give fleeting wit a lasting presence. Each piece is intimate, intelligent, and deeply human; offering not just a laugh, but a moment of connection.

Jack, a collage artist from Yorkshire, brings a more chaotic energy, cutting, pasting, and assembling his works from the abandoned pages of print culture. Encyclopedias, travel books, outdated magazines — all become his palette. Every image he selects has a past life, a faded texture, a forgotten meaning. Through sharp-eyed hunting and spontaneous improvisation, he reanimates them into surreal compositions full of humor and layered narrative. Blizzard describes his process as “catching up with an old mate”; wandering through tangents, distractions, and daft details to arrive at a punchline. His collages are strange, playful, and full of affection for the absurd. There’s also a quiet resistance within them: a commitment to reuse, to storytelling, and to finding joy in what others have thrown away. Like the best jokes, they linger — surprising, precise, and oddly profound.

Together, Marvin Humphrey and Jack Blizzard — one with a brush, the other with a blade — invite us to look again, laugh often, and find joy in the unexpected. Jest is a celebration of wit across time; a dialogue between generations; and a reminder that art, like life, is often best with a bit of cheek.