ROSE WYLIE – HORSE, BIRD, CAT
2016-12-05On view for the first time will be the large-scale Black Painting; Horse, Bird, Cat (2016), from which the exhibition takes its title, as well as two recent paintings and a group of works on paper that together underscore the artist’s distinctive working process and intuitive approach to image-making.
Wylie creates paintings and drawings that on first glance appear aesthetically simplistic, not seeming to align with any recognizable style or movement, but on closer inspection are revealed to be wittily observed and subtly sophisticated mediations on the nature of visual representation itself. The layers of newspaper that line her studio floor are a frequent source of material for the artist, as she encounters images by chance while working. Drawing from such wide-ranging cultural areas as film, fashion photography, literature, mythology, news images, sports, and individuals she meets in her day-to-day life, Wylie paints colorful and exuberant compositions that are uniquely recognizable. The artist has acknowledged her great admiration for Philip Guston, whose late paintings likewise make use of an idiosyncratic visual lexicon, the directness of cartoonish figures, and a flattened perspective, but simultaneously betray a deep awareness of art history and painterly conventions.
Opposite – Volcano, Pig, Cigar-Man, 2016
Exhibition runs through to January 7th, 2017
David Zwirner
24 Grafton Street
London
W1S 4EZ
