Biography
1998 Born in London, UK
Lives and works in Falmouth, UK
Finian James Tempest (b.1998, UK) is a visual artist based in Falmouth, Cornwall, with a multidisciplinary practice comprising sculpture, installation, performance, and drawing.
Challenging the boundaries between art, science and engineering, Tempest’s oeuvre unfolds as an immersive ecosystem—part sculpture, part theatre, part experiment. Positioning his practice as a whimsical, irreverent counterpoint to the hegemony of corporate and technological monopoly, his work reimagines technical processes as sculptural and performative systems, proposed as speculative, often fantastical alternatives to prevailing structures and utility-driven ways of thinking.
Tempest graduated from UAL: Central Saint Martins, London, in 2021 and completed an MA at Falmouth University in 2024. Tempest was the recipient of British Film and Designers Guild Best Commercial Draughstsman Award and the Real Immersive Award.
In collaboration with Grammy Award-winning musician Aphex Twin, Tempest co-directs Crawlspace Gallery, a micro-exhibition platform housed within a repurposed human-scale oil tank in Falmouth. Conceived as a chamber of sonic and sculptural experimentation, Crawlspace supports interdisciplinary practices that resist categorisation.
Parallel to his artistic work, as an engineer and certified PADI Divemaster, Tempest researches the intersection between sustainable architecture, marine anatomy, bioprinting and ROV technology. His ongoing investigations into biomimicry and inflatable architecture inform speculative designs for underwater conservation and research environments.
CV
download cv
1998 Born in London, UK
Lives and works in Falmouth, UK
Education
2024 MA Prosthetic Effects, Falmouth University, Cornwall
2021 BA, Performance Design and Practice, UAL: Central Saint Martins, London
Selected exhibitions
2025 Bodysongs, VFDalston, London
2021 Central Saint Martins Degree Show, London
2019 Sinfonietta, Southbank Centre, London
Selected grants & awards
2025 CreaTech Cornall Grant (UK Government & Cornwall Council
2025 Nominee – British Film Designers Guild – Best Production Design Commercial, Graphic Designer Nominee
2024 Winner – British Film Designers Guild – Best Production Design Commercial, Draughtsman Award
Professional contributions
2023 Graphic Designer, Crowdstrike “The Future”, Almería, Spain
2022 Draughtsperson / Visualisation Artist, Crowdstrike “Troy”, Morocco
2021 Draughtsperson / Visualisation Artist, Masterclass “Malala Yousafzai”, London, UK
2021 Draughting / Visualisation Artist, TROM, Faroe Islands