Rose Wylie

Rose Wylie is best known for creating colourful, large-scale, figurative paintings that are smart, funny, and quietly political. These are usually made from memory and draw on a wide range of cultural references from history, fashion and cinema, to mythology, sport and literature. The thread linking these fields is her interest in how images evolve and accumulate meaning - becoming familiar, iconic and part of the narrative of popular culture and wider history.

The large scale paintings at Newlyn Art Gallery include three recent works inspired by the Pilgrims ship the Mayflower voyage, which had a final landing at Newlyn to take on fresh water before sailing to America in 1620. In the lower gallery we will present Ben Rivers’ film What Means Something (2015) which reflects on his friendship with Rose, her painting and the artistic processes they have in common.

At The Exchange, alongside works inspired by Quentin Tarantino films, and her memories of London during the Second World War, will be a selection of preparatory works on paper.

History Painting is a Plymouth Art Centre exhibition, curated by Ben Borthwick.

Now based in Kent, Rose Wylie was born in 1934 and graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1981. Her 2017 exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery was widely acclaimed, and she has had solo exhibitions in Seoul, Cardiff, Margate, Dublin and at Tate Britain in 2013. Rose Wylie is represented by David Zwirner, New York/London and Choi&Lager, Cologne/Seoul.

History Painting was presented at Plymouth Art Centre and Plymouth College of Art 29 March – 30 May 2018.