Joanna Whittle | Lost Territories | Gramercy Park Studios

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Joanna Whittle | We have found no refuge | 2024 | Oil on canvas | 16x20cm

Joanna Whittle | Forest Shrine (Adorned) (Ilam) | 2021-2024 | Oil on copper | 15x10cm

Joanna Whittle | Forest Shrine (Oak) (Armistice) | 2024 | Oil on mounted copper | 15x10cm

Joanna Whittle | Forest Shrine (Willow) (Armoured) | 2024 | Oil on mounted copper | 15x10cm

Joanna Whittle | Forest Shrine (Solemn Geography) | 2024 | Oil on postcard | 14x9cm

Joanna Whittle | Forest Shrine (Shattered) | 2024 | Oil on postcard | 14x9cm

Joanna Whittle | Ground Stone | 2024 | Oil on satin ribbon | 15x10cm

Joanna Whittle | All Day It Has Rained | 2024 | Oil on linen | 14x18cm

Joanna Whittle | Are You There | 2024 | Oil on linen | 14x17cm

Joanna Whittle | Unsafe Here (This is the Place) | 2024 | Oil on mounted rayon | 12.5×17.5cm

Joanna Whittle | Unsheltered and Rain Desert (Not Here) | 2024 | Oil on linen | 14x18cm

Press Release

Lost Territories

EXHIBITION DATES: Friday 7 June - Friday 28 June 2024

EXHIBITION HOURS: Monday – Friday 10am-5pm

ADDRESS: Gramercy Park Studios, 25 Great Pulteney Street, Soho, London W1F 9ND

CHARLIE SMITH LONDON is delighted to present Joanna Whittle’s solo exhibition ‘Lost Territories’ in Soho, London.

Whittle is recognised for her intimate oil paintings that fuse the everyday and the arcane. Operating within the genre of landscape, Whittle depicts shelters, shrines, and gateways, which serve as focal points and suggest a human presence amid the landscape. These structures, often appearing as fragile, forlorn, and temporary, suggest themes of protection, ritual, and transition.

The small scale of Whittle’s work invites close inspection, drawing viewers into a deep engagement with the delicate brushwork and poignant narratives embedded within the landscapes. Her reduced scale paradoxically amplifies their emotional intensity, inferring a gothic sense of the sublime, where liminal territories are both seductive and menacing.

Whittle intelligently combines these elements, creating a dialogue between man and nature, absence and presence, the magical and the commonplace, the intimate and the isolated. Her unique approach to scale and landscape not only highlights the intricacy and eerie beauty of the natural world but also invites reflection on the human experience of seeking meaning and sanctuary within it.

Joanna Whittle graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2000 after completing her BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Central St Martins.  She was winner of the Contemporary British Painting Prize in 2019, and New Light Art Prize in 2020. Whittle has exhibited nationally and internationally throughout her career in solo presentations including Museum of London, Harley Gallery, and Whitaker Museum; and in group exhibitions including Saatchi Gallery, Sheffield Museums, Site Gallery, Freelands Foundation, Collyer Bristow, Huddersfield Museum, Attenborough Arts Centre, Jersey Arts Centre, ASC, APT, Newcastle Contemporary and John Moores at the Walker Art Gallery. Her work is held in numerous public and private collections, and this solo exhibition leads on from GHOSTED GROUND at the National Fairground and Circus Archive in 2023. 

The event will take place at CHARLIE SMITH LONDON, Gramercy Park Studios, 25 Great Pulteney Street, Soho, London W1F 9ND. Available to view Monday-Friday 10am-5pm. For further information please contact direct@charliesmithlondon.com. Follow us @CHARLIESMITHIdn

Please email direct@charliesmithlondon.com for artwork list

Biography

EDUCATION
1998-2000	MA Fine Art (Painting)	Royal College of Art, London
1994-1997	BA (Hons) Fine Art (Painting)	Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, London
ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024	Lost Territories	CHARLIE SMITH LONDON, London
2024	Ghosted Ground	University of Sheffield
2024	Heavy Water, PostNatures (curated by Victoria Lucas)	Graves Gallery, Sheffield
2023	On Shifting Ground	Whitaker Museum, Rossendale
2021	The Mitre Owl	Artcade, Sheffield
2020	Between Islands	Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire
2019	Lost Islands	Cupola Contemporary Art, Sheffield
2019	City Without and Within	Making Ways Engagement Project, Sheffield
2019	Flat + Earth	Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield
2018	Deluges	Alma Street, Sheffield
2018	Island and Water, Stone	CITU, Sheffield
2003	Clapton to Centre Point, 1183 Trees	Museum of London, London
2002	Badly Led Lives	Piccadilly Underground, London
2001	New Paintings	Agnews, London
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023	Bloc Projects Members Show	Bloc Projects, Sheffield
2023	John Moores Painting Prize Exhibition	Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
2023	Arcadia for All? Rethinking Landscape Painting Now	Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester
2023	No Place Like Home	ArtHouse, Jerse
2023	Beyond the Gaze – Reclaiming the Landscape (curated by Zavier Ellis)	Saatchi Gallery, London
2023	X, Contemporary British Painting	Newcastle Contemporary Art, Newcastle
2023	Arcadia for All? Rethinking Landscape Painting Now	Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds
2023	PREVIEW	Gramercy Park Studios, London
2023	PostNatures	Heavy Water Collective, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield
2023	Entwined, Plants in Contemporary Painting	Visual Arts Centre, Scunthorpe
2022	The Tyranny of Ambition	Highlanes Public Gallery, Drogheda
2022	Entwined, Plants in Contemporary Painting	Huddersfield Art Gallery, Huddersfield
2022	Paint Edgy	Contemporary British Painting, Barton upon Humber
2022	The Fool	Air Space Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
2022	RASE	Royal Academy of Arts, London
2022	New Light Retrospective	Saul Hay Gallery, Manchester
2022	Paradoxes	Quay Arts Centre, Isle of Wight
2021	New Light Prize Exhibition	Tullie House Museum, Carlisle
2021	Silent Disco	Greystone Industries, Suffolk
2021	Heavy Water	Site Gallery, Sheffield
2021	Urban	Art Social project, Sheffield
2021	Emergence	Rise Art, Sheffield
2021	Human Nature	Linden Hall Studio, Deal
2021	New Light Prize Exhibition	The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle
2021	Darkness At Noon	Contemporary British Painting Society, London
2021	The Lockdown Interviews	The Cello Factory, London
2020	Thing Worlds	Spot Korin, Kyoto
2020	Vitalistic Fantasies	The Cello Factory, London
2020	New Light Prize Exhibition	Scarborough Art Gallery, Scarborough
2020	Prosaic Mosaic	Globe Arts, Slaithwaite
2020	Contemporary British Painting	ASC Gallery, London
2019	Contemporary British Painting	Huddersfield Art Gallery, Huddersfield
2019	Rogue Women	Rogue Galleries, Manchester
2019	Bethlehem Boys Club III	Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield
2019	Prosaic / Mosaic	Bloc Projects, Sheffield
2019	Second Nature	Portico Gallery, Manchester
2019	Just One More Thing	Asylum, Rendlesham
2019	Two Fold	OA Studios, Salford
2019	This Is Not An Oak Tree	Jugg Art Foundation, Suffolk
2019	The Immaculate Dream	Collyer Bristow Gallery, London
2019	Royal Academy Summer Exhibition	Royal Academy, London
2019	Place	Boston Castle, Rotherham
2019	Eight Paint	Gage Gallery, Sheffield
2019	Harley Open	Harley Gallery, Worksop
2019	Flat + Earth	Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield
2018	Bethlehem Boys Club II	Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield
2018	Confluence at Bloc	Bloc Projects, Sheffield
2018	Confluence	Herrick Gallery, London
2018	Uncommon or Garden	Jugg Art Foundation, Ipswich
2018	John Moores Painting Prize	Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
2018	Brownfield Research Centre	AirSpace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
2018	Public Commission	Kelham Island, Sheffield
2017	Strangelands	Collyer Bristow Gallery, London
2016	End of Beginnings	Mandell’s Gallery, Norwich
2016	Various Species	Greystones Industries, Wickham Market
2016	Sad But True	Jerwood Dance House, Ipswich
2015	Atrium Summer Exhibition	University of Suffolk, Ipswich
2014	Atrium Winter Show	University of Suffolk, Ipswich
2014	Winter Show	Subterranean Boulevard Gallery, Ipswich
2006	Deck of Cards	39 Gallery, London
2005	Group Show	Keith Talent Gallery, London
2005	Hand In Hand We Walk Alone	Clapham Art Gallery, London
2005	Pocketscopic	Sartorial Contemporary Art, London
2004	Christmas Tree	39 Gallery, London
2004	Aftershock	Oneaspace, Hong Kong
2004	Pub Crawl	39 Gallery, London
2003	Francis Bacon as an Exquisite Corpse	39 Gallery, London
2003	Drawing Show	Keith Talent Gallery, London
2002	Four Colleges Show	AT Kearney, London
2001	New Painters	Agnews, London
2000	Collector’s Choice	Exit Art, New York
2000	Assembly	Stepney City, London
2000	Summer Show	Beaux Arts, London
AWARDS
2022	Four Nations Funding
2020	New Light Prize
2020	Arts Council England
2019	Contemporary British Painting Prize
2019-2022	Freelands Artist Programme
2019	Harley Open Prize
2004	LAC Residencies in the City
2000	Jardine Lloyd Thompson Painting Prize
2000	TI Group Painting Prize
1999	NADFAS Greater London Art Bursary
1999	John Crane Summer Travel Award
1999	Bundy, New York Travel Award
1998	Amy Sadur Freidlander Memorial Art Fund
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2022	Freelands Foundation	Aggregate
2022	Why Now	Artist Interview
2021	APT Gallery	Darkness at Noon Catalogue
2021	Financial Times	Smaller is Beautiful, the tiny but triumphant comeback of the art miniature
2020	Contemporary British Painting	Vitalistic Fantasies
2020	Contemporary British Painting	Plausible Objects, Difficult Things
2020	Artist & Illustrators Magazine	Fresh Paint
2020	Contemporary British Painting	A Celebration of Painting, Griselda Pollock
2019	Contemporary British Painting	Contemporary British Painting Prize Catalogue
2018	National Museums Liverpool	John Moores Painting Prize Exhibition Catalogue
2006	Celeste Art Prize	Celeste Art Prize Catalogue
2004	London Arts Café	Art & Cities
2001	Agnews	Joanna Whittle: New Paintings
2000	TI Group	The TI Art Group Collection Catalogue