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This exhibition presents thirty years of expressive paintings and drawings by Cornwall, UK–based artist Denzil Forrester MBE (Grenadian-British, born 1956). Taking inspiration from London’s dub reggae culture and clubs of the 1980s, Forrester’s working process is analogous to creating versions or reconfigurations of the same music track. Forrester’s numerous sketches from this period, made in the semi-darkness of urban dancehalls, continue to inform his paintings today. References to the diaspora, dub reggae, and the policing of Black cultural expression in Britain reverberate like a refrain throughout his practice. These figures and expressions read like a visual dub mix, echoing one another, and reconstituting themselves while projecting the transformative energy of the music.

Duppy Conqueror explores four themes that evolve throughout Forrester’s practice, circulating around ideas of ancestry, family, the aura of the reggae club and music scene, and the violence inflicted on Black communities.

Originating in Jamaica at about the time Forrester moved to East London in 1967, dub reggae speaks to his memories of the Caribbean while representing a vibrant cultural community in the UK. Works such as Rave On (1991), capture the energy of the dancing crowds and the idiosyncratic styles the clubbers wore. While such images express a sense of joy and freedom, paintings such as Brixton Blue (2018), also hint at the oppression of Black cultural life in Britain. Inspired by the death in police custody of the artist’s friend Winston Rose, this work exposes the physical, social, and emotional brutality inflicted on the Black body.

Duppy, an African word that evokes spirits and ancestors, is related semantically to dub, or the altered recordings of familiar songs made anew. This idea mirrors the dynamic of a music that echoes the past, speaks in the present, and anticipates the future. Key paintings in the exhibition Stitch Up (2017) and Reading with Ma Pets (2018), reveal the convergence of timelines that similarly defines Forrester’s work, from his childhood memories of Grenada to his experiences of London as a young man.

Duppy Conqueror is organized by Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and curated by Director of Curatorial Affairs Erin Dziedzic.

Denzil Forrester (Grenadian-British, born 1956), Reading with Ma Pets, 2018, oil on canvas, 72⅛ x 48⅛ inches.

© Denzil Forrester. Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Image courtesy of Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM. Photo: James Hart Photography.

Denzil Forrester (Grenadian-British, born 1956), Dub Dance, 1993, oil on board, ​​48½ x 72⅛ inches. 

Denzil Forrester (Grenadian-British, born 1956), Brixton Blue, 2018, oil on canvas, 80½ x 107⅝ inches, Private Collection, London; courtesy of Stephen Friedman Gallery. 

Featured Artworks

5 p.m. Bar Opens | 6 p.m. Panel featuring artist Denzil Forrester and curators Erin Dziedzic and Gean Moreno

Denzil Forrester Artist and Curator Panel

Celebrate the opening of "Duppy Conqueror" with an evening of drinks and music inspired by the exhibition.

Denzil Forrester: Duppy Conqueror Opening Celebration

Silent KC is back at Kemper Museum to celebrate the exhibition!

Silent KC x Denzil Forrester: Duppy Conqueror

From dance halls to dance styles, get in the groove with a lively, trivia evening inspired by the special exhibition,(insert Denzil’s exhibition title).

Rhythm of the Trivia Night

Join Kemper Museum Director of Curatorial Affairs Erin Dziedzic for a guided tour of Denzil Forrester: Duppy Conqueror.

Curator-Led Tour of Denzil Forrester: Duppy Conqueror

Save your spot for our three-day art camp

Spring Camp Kemper

Join us for an evening of figure drawing inspired by works on view in the galleries.

Studio Night: Capturing Rhythm

Forrester is most well known for capturing the vibrancy and dynamicsm of 1980s London reggae and dub nightclub scene. Of his work, the artist says “I just wanted to draw movement, action and expression. I was interested in the energy of the crowd, particular dance movements and what the clubbers wore. In these clubs, city life is recreated in essence: sounds, lights, police sirens, bodies pushing and swaying in a smoke-filled room.”

1983 M.A., Fine Art, Royal College of Art, London, England

1979 B.A., Fine Art, Central School of Art, London, England

1976 Foundation, Central School of Art, London, England

2021 Itchin & Scratchin, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, England; travelling to Spike Island, Bristol, England

2021 Life Between Islands: Caribbean–British Art 50s – Now, Tate Britain, London, England

2019 Brixton Blue, TFL Commission, Brixton Underground Station, London, England

Panel Discussion | “Denzil Forrester: Duppy Conqueror”

January 25, 2023 at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Denzil Forrester’s first major U.S. exhibition opens at Kemper Museum

A Painter Who Captured London’s 1980s Reggae Scene

In London, Essential Survey Shows Painter Denzil Forrester’s Full Range

Denzil Forrester's Paintings Celebrate Pre-Gentrification London Nightlife

Lead Sponsor

Premiere Benefactors

Richard Anderson and Gloria Delich Anderson Family Foundation
Lorin and Erica Crenshaw 
RLS Illumination Fund
The J. B. Reynolds Foundation
Todd and Emily Voth, in Memory of Mary O’Dell Swett

Sustaining Sponsors

Additional financial assistance is provided by generous donors and members, especially: William T. Kemper Charitable Trust, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee; Bebe & Crosby Kemper Foundation, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee; Arvin Gottlieb Charitable Foundation, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee; Missouri Arts Council, a state agency; The Family of Mary Beth Smith Docent Program; Christy and Bill Gautreaux; Muriel McBrien Kauffman Family Foundation; Matt Smith & Lindsey Patterson Smith; Stanley J. Bushman and Ann Canfield; Charles M. Helzberg and Sandra Baer; Jo Ann and William Sullivan; Jack and Karen Holland Visiting Artist Fund; Bebe and Graham Hunt; SpecChem / Liz and Greg Maday; Jane Voorhees; Murphy-Hoffman Company; Spencer Fane LLP; Thomas and Sally Wood Family Foundation, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee; Copaken Family Fund; JE Dunn Construction; Francis Family Foundation; Kansas City University; Miller Nichols Charitable Foundation; Bradley and Linda Nicholson Foundation; Harry Portman Charitable Trust, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee; Courtney S. Turner Charitable Trust, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee; UMB Financial Corporation; The Sosland Foundation

Additional Thanks

Forecast Form Art in the Caribbean Diaspora, 1990s–Today

Counterpoints Dialogues between Music and the Visual Arts

Life Between Islands: Caribbean British Art 1950s - Now

Denzil Forrester: Duppy Conqueror

Denzil Forrester (Grenadian-British, born 1956), Night Flames, 2012, oil canvas, 42 x 66⅛ inches, Courtesy of Tia Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico. © Denzil Forrester. Courtesy of Tia Collection, Santa Fe, NM. Image courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Photo: Mark Blower. 