Hi, I’m Kimbal.
I am a multi-disciplinary artist based in London. I work across drawing, painting, sound, performance and video, both as solo practice and in participatory projects. My artistic practice stems from my background in participatory performance art, and my fascination with maps. Broadly speaking, my works are abstract representations and re-imaginings of real, imagined, and internal spaces and places, framed by a material and conceptual investigation into layers and layering.
My paintings and drawings are made via a process of layering, overlapping, re-working and erasing, as if simultaneously constructing and excavating an imaginary landscape. Each new layer is a response to the last and the work emerges as a trace of my dialogue with the materials. I use mixed media to make my visual artworks, primarily with layers of oil paint mixed with varnish, and more recently with acrylic and coloured pencil. My work is characterised by swathes of deep vibrant colour, playful mark making and complex imaginary spaces into which I invite viewers to dive in and explore. I draw inspiration from looking at architectural details, and I use mark making as a tool to tune into sonic textures and the sense of touch.
Central to my work is the notion of a body in a space and capturing how it feels to be somewhere. I’m interested in the process of transforming the physical, material and sonic properties of specific locations, as well as the stories and memories they embody, into artworks. Aside from my visual artworks, I transform recorded audio samples into site-specific music, I create video works that document transitional journeys and notions of home, and I use drawing in participatory performances and workshops as a tool to tune in to, and map, sensory and embodied experiences
Get in touch
CV
Education:
2009-2010: Queen Mary University of London, Masters in Performance and Theatre. Scholarship QMUL
2004-2008: University of Leeds, Fine Art and History of Art BA (International)
2006-2007: Akademia Sztuka Pieknych w Krakowie (Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow) (Erasmus exchange)
Selected Exhibitions:
2024
Pitt Rivers Museum, Part of Cities and Memory Sound installation, (Oxford, UK)
“It Rose and it Fell”, Terrace Gallery, Group exhibition, London (UK)
Sluice Biennial at The Minories, Group exhibition with Basement Arts Project, Colchester (UK)
2023
“Definitions of drawing II”, Sunnybank Mills, Group exhibition, Leeds (UK)
Pyramid Gallery, Solo exhibition, York (UK)
Jane Newbery Gallery, Solo exhibition, London (UK)
“The Order of the drawing”, Drawing Research Group, Loughborough University (UK)
2022
The Other Art Fair, Truman Brewery, London (UK)
The Mercer Gallery, Group exhibition, Harrogate (UK)
“Art Lab” Dean Clough Galleries, Group exhibition, Halifax (UK)
Fronteer Gallery, Group exhibition, Sheffield (UK)
According to McGee, Group exhibition, York (UK)
2021
Basement Arts Project, Solo exhibition, Leeds (UK)
The Absent gallery, Group exhibition, Online
2020
Aeon Gallery, Solo exhibition, London (UK)
Studio 73 Brixton, Solo exhibition, London (UK)
2019
Mall Galleries, Art for Youth, Group exhibition, London (UK)
2018
GX Gallery, Group exhibition, London (UK)
Jane Newbery Gallery, Solo exhibition, London (UK)
Kosaten, Solo exhibition, Tokyo (JP)
P21 Gallery, Group exhibition, London (UK)
2017
Örebro Konsthall, Group exhibition, Örebro (SE)
De Stoker, Solo exhibition, Amsterdam (NL)
Arthouse1, Group Exhibition, London (UK)
2016
Crowsnest Gallery, Performance installation, London (UK)
Museum of Forgetting, Group Exhibition, Malmö, (SE)
The Montage Gallery, Group exhibition, London, (UK)
2015
Turner Contemporary, Group exhibition, Margate, (UK)
Shuffle Festival, Performance Festival, London, (UK)
Counterpoints Arts, Group exhibition, London, (UK)
2014
Espacio Gallery, Group exhibition, London, (UK)
Griffin Gallery, Group Exhibition London, (UK)
Nomadic Arts Festival, Performance art festival, Warsaw/ Charciabałda, (PL)
Twiza Cultural Centre, Solo exhibition and residency, Tunis, (TN)
2013
C4RD (Centre for Recent Drawing), Group exhibition, London, (UK)
Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Performance art festival, Helsinki, (FI)
2012
Ptarmigan Helsinki/ Tallinn, Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, and Oxford University – Performance project
2011
Yokohama Triennial, Performance, Yokohama, (JP)
Busan International Performance Art Festival, Performance, Busan, (KR)
2010
Academy of Fine Art Copenhagen, Performance art festival, Copenhagen, (DK)
Basement Arts Project, Solo exhibition, Leeds, (UK)
2009
798 District, “Beijing Biennial and Open International Performance Art Festival” Beijing,
Awards:
2025
A_N Professional Development Bursary, (£1455)
Artist in residence:
Kosaten Cultural Centre, Tokyo, Japan, Project exploring storytelling, mapping and film-making (2018)
HaMiffal, Jerusalem, Israel, Residency making site-specific artwork for the centre (2017)
Twiza Cultural Centre, Tunis, Tunisia, Producing the film “The horizon is far away”, and workshops with local residents (2015)
BatArtLab, Batman, Turkey, Participatory photography project with refugees. (2014)
Research Projects
Growing up in coastal towns. PI: Avril Keating (University College London). Leading mapping workshops with young people growing up in coastal towns around the UK. (2024)
Young Citizens Atlas Collaboration with Livingmaps Network exploring young people’s experiences of their environments and working towards creating a national atlas (funding dependent). Initial pilot projects in East London (2022-2023).
Talks
Royal Geographical Society Annual Conference, Imperial College London, (2024)
London Conference in Critical Thought, Greenwich University London, (2024)
Seven of Clubs, Pushkin House, (2023)
Creative mapping methodologies and practice, Kings College London, (2023)
Countermapping the City, University of the Phillippines Diliman, Department of Geography, International Virtual Conference, (2022)
Publications
Bumstead K, (2022) Sonic Landscapes, Livingmaps Review, Issue 13
Bumstead K, (2017), Horizontally Backwards (and other lines), Livingmaps Review, Issue 3
Bumstead K, and Stafford J (2015), Nomadic Revolutions: Art and Belonging(s) in Mongolia, Arhitext magazine, Issue 3 (239) Home=a House
Lo Liddel, Pinaka AM, Bumstead K (2014), Tastes like cherry cola, Self-published
Bumstead K, (2011/2012) Performance Texts, Emergency Index (Vol. 1 & 2), Ugly Duckling Presse, New York (ISBN 978-1-937027-07-0 and ISBN 978-1-937027-12-4)
Drawing Paper, Publication of Touch Drawing and accompanying text, (issue – 3, 2011)
Curatorial projects
Sonic Traces, Participatory drawing installation at Hungate Library Café (2022)
Dreaming of a Post-Covid World, Co-curated online drawing exhibition with Sol Perez-Martinez (2020)
Sessantanove, Tastes like cherry cola, Curated project with Lo Liddell and AnnaMaria Pinaka, Valencia (2014)
The Old Ambulance Depot, Two men in a room, Co-curated project with Richard Taylor, Edinburgh, (2011)
Waterside Contemporary, Tension, Intervention and Restraint, Group Performance, London (2010)
ArtEvict, A monthly live art platform various locations, London (2010/11)
A Foundation, Touch Village (I curated a performance installation as part of Liverpool Biennial) Liverpool (2010)
Press and interviews
2024 - Art x Artists Interview and Studio visit
2024 - Interview with Mike Duggan, Livingmaps Review Issue 16, 2024
2022 - York Creative Podcast #53
2022 - York Creatives Zine, Summer 2022
2022 - CharlesHutchPress, Article about duo exhibition at According to McGee Gallery
2022 - Yorkshire Life magazine Feature
2021 - In conversation with Bruce Davies, Basement Arts Project, Leeds
Camberwell Quarterly 2019, issue 202
Work discussed in: Marchevska E (2017), The Displaced & Privilege (Live Art in the age of hostility), Study Guide, Live Art Development Agency
Work Discussed in: Carlson B (2017); Moving Marks. PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art ; 39 (1 (115)): pp58–66.
Work discussed in: Pinaka, AM (2013), Expressing the Inexpressible, of Selves and Others through Conceptual Romanticism, Magma Group Catalogue (2013)
2011 - Text by Bruce Davies, Basement Arts Project
Teaching and Workshops:
Visiting workshop leader for mapping and drawing workshops:
University of British Columbia Okanagan Presentation and workshop for ‘Sensing a changed climate in early childhood’ (2024)
University of Plymouth, Presentation and workshop for MA Architecture and PhD students (2023)
Kings College London, Presentation and workshop for Digital Humanities students (2023)
Science Gallery (London), Mapping workshop for Festival of Social Sciences (2023)
Course Leader for adult education classes; Painting and Drawing: Designing and delivering courses and workshops in drawing and painting for adults,
York Learning (2022-present) and Rosetta Arts (2023-Present)