Hero Johnson is a London-based visual artist, originally from Cornwall.
Exhibitions include The BP Portrait Award, The Royal Society of Portrait Painters, The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, The Lynn Painter-Stainers Prize, The Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Competition, The New English Art Club, The Discerning Eye, Hogarth’s House ‘Small Self’, The Pastel Society and The Royal Institute of Oil Painters.
Shortlisted for both the Bulldog Bursary and the RSPP Self Prize in 2013. Regular contributor to Artists & Illustrators magazine 2010-2022. Winner of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Changing Faces Commission Prize 2015. Awarded the New English Art Club Drawing Scholarship 2016-17. Awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant 2018. Made a member of the Contemporary British Portrait Painters 2019. Winner of both the Artists & Illustrators Award and the Unison Non-Member Prize at the Pastel Society 2022.
Notable sitters include: Michael Bond CBE, Sir Alan Parker CBE, Dame Lynne Brindley, Lord Puttnam and Barbara Hosking CBE.

 

Selected Group Exhibitions and Competitions
2022
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. The Mall Galleries. London
The Pastel Society Annual Exhibition. The Mall Galleries, London
The Contemporary British Portrait Painters. The Department Store, London
‘Lookers’. The Arts Factory, Islington, London
2021
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. The Mall Galleries, London
The Sequestered Art Prize – Shortlisted
Figurative Art Now. The Federation of British Artists 60th Anniversary, London
‘Beyond the Door’. Bermondsey Project Space, London
The Contemporary British Portrait Painters. ‘Contact’. Cass Art Gallery, London
2020
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. The Mall Galleries, London
The Contemporary British Portrait Painters ‘Perceptions’. Cass Art Gallery, London

The ING Discerning Eye Exhibition
The Jackson’s Painting Prize Open
The Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition
The Heatherley Staff Show. Bankside Gallery, London
2019
The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize. Trinity Buoy Wharf
The Lynn Painter Stainers Prize. The Mall Galleries, London
The Society of Women Artists. The Mall Galleries, London
The Heatherley Staff Show. Bankside Gallery, London
2018
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. The Mall Galleries, London
‘Empowered by Art’. The University Women’s Club, Mayfair
The Jackson’s Painting Prize Open
The Heatherley Staff Show. Bankside Gallery, London
‘Connected’. Waterstones Gallery, Gower St, London
2017
The BP Portrait Award. National Portrait Gallery, London
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. The Mall Galleries, London
The New English Art Club. The Mall Galleries, London
‘Face to Face’; BP Portrait Award Artists’ Work. Cass Art Space, Islington
‘The Art of Reading’. Cambridge Literary Festival, Cambridge
The Jackson’s Painting Prize Open
The Heatherley Staff Show. Bankside Gallery, London
2016
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. The Mall Galleries, London
‘The Art of Reading’. Waterstones Gallery, Gower St, London
The Jackson’s Painting Prize Open. Finalist.
The Heatherley Staff Show. Bankside Gallery, London.
2015
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. The Mall Galleries, London
The Heatherley Staff Show. Bankside Gallery, London
‘Portrayed’. Chelsea Old Town Hall, London
2014
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. The Mall Galleries, London
‘The Small Self’. Hogarth’s House, Chiswick, London
The Heatherley Staff Show. Bankside Gallery, London
2013
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. ‘Self’ Prize Finalist. The Mall Galleries, London
The Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Competition. Kings Place, London
The New English Art Club. The Mall Galleries, London
‘Patrick George, a Likeness’. Browse & Darby, London
The Reed Short Film Competition. Long-listed
2012
‘Jumping Frog’. Daggett Gallery, London
2011
The Discerning Eye. The Mall Galleries, London
2010
The Lynn Painter Stainers Prize. Painter’s Hall, London
2009-10
Bust of Colin Powell for ‘The Nature of the Beast’. Whitechapel Gallery. (‘Busted’ New York High Line, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art 2013)
2008
The Royal Society of Portrait Painters. The Mall Galleries, London
2007
The Royal Institute of Oil Painters. Winsor and Newton Young Artist Award Finalist. The Mall Galleries, London
2006
The Royal Institute of Oil Painters. Winsor and Newton Young Artist Award Finalist. The Mall Galleries, London
The Society of Women Artists. The Mall Galleries, London
2005
‘Art Relief’. En Plo Gallery, Kato Paphos, Cyprus

Solo Shows
2005
CCA Gallery. Lemba, Cyprus

 

Awards and Bursaries
2022 – The Unison Non-Member Prize, The Pastel Society
2022 – The Artists and Illustrators Award, The Pastel Society
2018 – The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant
2016 – The New English Art Club Drawing Scholarship
2015 – The Royal Society of Portrait Painters Changing Faces Commission Prize
2013 – The Royal Society of Portrait Painters Bulldog Bursary Runner-up
2007 – The Worshipful Company of Painter Stainers Bursary
2004 – Cypriot Ministry of Culture Bursary

Collections

Pembroke College, Oxford
The Changing Faces Collection

Publications

‘Painting the Human Figure: Ideas and Perception’ by Atul Vohora 2012

Memberships

The Contemporary British Portrait Painters – Committee Member

Honorary Member of the Chelsea Arts Club