Artist Jeremy Houghton presents and takes questions on his work and career in conversation at Bedford Playhouse.

Join us for a reception at 6:30pm in the Playhouse Cafe prior to the program.

Over the past two decades, Jeremy has worked as artist in residence within a range of royal, military and sporting environments, from Windsor Castle to Wimbledon and the Olympic Games. These works emerge from close observation within structured, often highly charged settings. 

His paintings are built through reduction – eliminating detail to reveal structure, movement and atmosphere. In his portrait-based works, this process becomes a form of distillation: rather than describing likeness directly, he seeks to register a more transient sense of presence. Figures emerge and dissolve within their surroundings, allowing character to be suggested rather than defined, and inviting the viewer to complete what is only partially shown.

Alongside these works, his long-term study of flamingos – begun during an early residency in South Africa – operates within a more expansive and expressive register. This body of work explores collective movement, colour and immersion, while retaining the same underlying concern with perception and experience.

Houghton’s variation in style reflects the conditions of each subject. His residency works are shaped by reduction and restraint, while his more expressive works allow for a freer, more intuitive response. Across all aspects of his practice, the same principle applies: distillation – revealing more by showing less.