Sheffield-based artist and muralist, Ethan Lemon, is set to host his debut solo show Beginnings at the end of the month.
Ethan regularly exhibits in group shows in the UK and has painted murals internationally in Toronto, Los Angeles and Melbourne. He is an award-winning artist, most recently achieving 2nd Prize in the Appetite Audience Choice Award at the Three Counties Exhibition in 2023.
Ahead of its opening at the Two and Six pub, we spoke to Ethan about the inspirations behind the pieces for this exhibition and that sentimental feeling you get when you’ve been away from home for too long.
So how does it feel to be hosting your debut solo show?
It’s exciting. It feels like a milestone, you know what I mean? I wrote this on my Instagram post last night: it’s funny that it’s called Beginnings because that’s actually what it’s about, growing up and where I grew up. But it’s funny that it coincides with the beginning of this sort of new path in my career, of having gallery shows and going down the gallery route. So it’s sort of the beginning of that as well.
How did the idea for Beginnings come about?
I’ve just been spending a lot more time back in Stoke, where I’m from, with my family and that. And I started photographing things around the house, around their garden. All the reference images have actually come from just that house and that garden and it got me thinking about beginnings, like where I came from and where I grew up, and sort of reminiscing on things like that.
Who or what are your creative influences for your art?
A lot of other artists influence and inspire me, but for this project in particular, it is domestic scenes, architecture and landscapes. More specifically, it is to do with that particular house and, like, just growing up, I guess. Memories of growing up.
We’ve heard that you’re very passionate about travelling. Will that be incorporated into this project?
Usually that is one of the big inspirations for my art. I like to combine everyday life with exotic places. I did have two different series on the go: one would be a lot of references from traveling and photos I’ve taken around the world, and the other was of home. I’d normally reference foreign buildings and scenery and paint that. This project is still related to that, but it’s sort of the opposite thing: after all of the places I’ve been, what about this place where I have spent the most of my life? It’s very different to places I’ve been; it’s quite mundane and ordinary. But I thought I could just paint things from home and see how that works out. But people say, don’t they, when they travel the world, or they travel a lot, that they start thinking about home again, and they start thinking about where it all began.
What can attendees look forward to seeing?
The key themes are about home and beginnings. There will still be a lot of the big paintings I’m used to, but there will also be lots of little different things that are not just a painting on canvas. Without giving too much away, there will be things that have different elements to them, and some with more of a 3D element.
Another theme within the series is the contrast between permanence and change, with the simple forms of the houses acting as constants alongside trees, gardens, and parked cars that all change over time. With this, I want to reflect the passage of time as well as the persistence of memory. There are a few things that I’m trying to keep a secret a little bit as well, but you can definitely look forward to things you’ve not seen from me before, it won’t just be canvases. All my efforts have been going to this, to be honest, in between doing murals and jobs. But it’s all systems go on this now.
How have your methods or style evolved throughout your time as an artist, going between street art and canvas?
I’ve been doing street art with spray paint forever, for the past 15 years or something. And then a couple years ago, I felt like I’d got to a point with it where I was decent at it, and I wanted to try other things as well. I got my first studio I’d ever had at Kelham Island Arts Collective and I started using different mediums and painting more with just a paintbrush on canvas. And then that developed into what it is now for my upcoming show, Beginnings, which is a bit of a mixture. There’s a bit of spray paint, there’s a bit of airbrush, there’s acrylic paint with brushes. There’s crayon and oil pastels I use. So it’s kind of an amalgamation of all the things I’ve learned really, up until now.
Beginnings will debut at Two & Six Micropub, 26 Snig Hill, from 24-26 April 2026 from 7pm-11pm. Follow Ethan Lemon on socials for future updates: @ethan_lemon_art
