Rose Wylie: Acclaimed British Artist Given Serpentine Exhibition Age 83

Rose Wylie, Queen with Pansies (Dots), 2016, Oil on canvas, 183 x 331 cm, Courtesy the artist, Photo: Soonhak Kwon

The Serpentine is presenting the works of acclaimed British artist Rose Wylie (born 1934, UK) this winter. Wylie creates paintings of visually compelling images that she encounters on a day-to-day basis, finding inspiration in a variety of sources, from art history, cinema, comic books and the natural world to verbal anecdotes, news and celebrity stories. These might include a scene from Quentin Tarantino’s iconic Kill Bill films, a self-portrait of Wylie eating a chocolate biscuit or an olive oil label. Her vibrant, large-scale canvases will fill the walls of the Serpentine Sackler Gallery.

The exhibition includes paintings and works on paper dating from the late 1990s to the present day – some never previously exhibited. A new painting, made especially for the Sackler show, is based on her memories of living close to Kensington Gardens as a child for a short period during the Blitz. Wylie maps the landscape of the park – the lake, the historic building and Zaha Hadid extension that forms the present-day Sackler Gallery, as well as the dogs, ducks and inhabitants of the park – with her memories of spitfires and Messerschmitt planes fighting overhead.

rose wylie
Rose Wylie, Jack Goes Swimming 2013,Courtesy the artist, Photo: Soonhak

Wylie’s images are often painted through the filter of her memory, using text to enhance facts and recollections in her compositions and overlaying new pieces of canvas, like a collage. Instilled with wit, her paintings are confident, animated and energetic, proposing new perspectives on the world and the plethora of images that make up our collective cultural memory.

The Serpentine winter season continues with Wade Guyton’s Das New Yorker Atelier, Abridged at the Serpentine Gallery until 4 February 2018.

Rose Wylie studied at Folkestone and Dover School of Art (1952–6) and the Royal College of Art, London (1979–81). Wylie gained wider attention after representing Great Britain in the exhibition Women To Watch, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington D.C. in 2010. She received the Paul Hamlyn Award in 2011 before winning the John Moores Painting Prize in 2014, the same year she was elected a Royal Academician.

Wylie’s recent solo exhibitions include: Neue Galerie Gladbeck (2017); Choi & Lager, Cologne (2017); David Zwirner, London (2016); Chapter Gallery, Cardiff (2016); Turner Contemporary, Margate (2016); Space K, Seoul (2016); UNION Gallery, London (2016); VW (VeneKlasen / Werner), Berlin (2015); Staedtische Galerie Wolfsburg (2014); Tate Britain BP Spotlight Display (2014) Haugar Museum, Tønsberg (2013); and Jerwood Gallery, Hastings (2012). Selected group exhibitions include Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2015, 2016, 2017); Azerbaijan Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2015); Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2014) and EAST International, Norwich Gallery (1994, 2004, 2007).

Rose Wylie 30 November 2017 – 4 February 2018 Serpentine Sackler Gallery

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