‘I want my paintings to look like what’s going on outside my window, rather than what’s inside my studio.’
Robert Rauschenberg,
in the film Man at Work (1997)
Lionel Openshaw is a London-based visual artist and designer, working with various media including digital, photography, print and assemblage. Current interests include the inner city and social engagement.
Lionel is originally from Durham City in north east England, but has lived in inner London since the early 1990s. He completed a BA at Goldsmiths, and an MA in Visual Arts (Digital) at Camberwell College of Arts – for which he was awarded the UAL Rector's Scholarship.
He has regularly exhibited in various spaces across London. These have included the Menier Gallery, the Laban Centre, the Viewfinder Photography Gallery and at Cockpit Arts as part of the London Design Festival.
An active interest in political and cultural issues also informs Lionel's work. This is reinforced by a fascination with language, communication and the relationships between visual and textual languages.
He has also participated in performing arts – and has staged events at venues including Picturehouse Cinemas, Ciné Lumière and the National Maritime Museum – as well as the Royal Society of Arts in partnership with Channel 4.
Otherwise Lionel works as a graphic designer and is creative director of Open Eye – an independent studio specialising in typography, identity, publishing and editorial. Clients have included: the BBC, the Guardian, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London Boroughs of Southwark and Lewisham, and Birkbeck University of London.