Details:
① Artwork:
Irish Cupid
Artist Rose Wylie frequently returns to motifs found in her earlier works; likewise, this lithograph makes use of imagery from the artist's 2016 painting Julieta (Film Notes). The Irish Valentine Card that Wylie revisits in this print was inspired by an early 20th-century Valentine’s Day card that belonged to a series of postcards, Cupid in Different Climes, by the British company Raphael Tuck & Sons. The original card similarly depicts a red-headed cupid figure wearing a green hat, bearing the inscription:
“the little Shamrock Cupid, / he’s a gem in Erin’s crown! / all Irish lads and lassies know / whenever he’s in town.”
The artist has inserted her own language to preface this sweet rhyme, adding in varying brown and black ink:
“Extra ‘irrationality’ ‘slice-in’ (not in film.”
Wylie also pasted “cupid” over part of the last line, giving the impression of an editor-at-work while also making the poem her own. In this work, the artist borrows motifs from her larger body of work—such as her sprawling script. The brown arrow on the right-hand side of the image also comes directly from the painting, where it pointed to an adjacent panel.
Speaking of the artist’s work, curator Melissa Blanchflower says, "Wylie ultimately selects the subjects of her paintings for their intrinsic value as images. She is interested in the collision of different forms.… This dispels any pre-conceived hierarchy between genres, subjects and scale. It is composition, colour, form and pace that connect [her works] . . . not their depicted subjects."
Melissa Blanchflower, ed., "Quack Quack, Ack Ack," in Rose Wylie: Quack Quack. Exh. cat. (London: Serpentine Galleries, 2017), p. 28.
Specs:
③ Artist:
British artist Rose Wylie has become known for her uniquely recognizable, colorful, and exuberant compositions. Her imagery on first glance appears aesthetically simplistic, not seeming to align with any discernible style or movement. On closer inspection, however, the works reveal themselves as wittily observed and subtly sophisticated meditations on the nature of visual representation itself.
Rose Wylie was born in Kent, UK in 1934. After studying at the Folkestone and Dover School of Art in Kent, UK, the artist graduated from the Royal College of Art in London, UK in 1981.
The first solo exhibition of Wylie’s work took place in 1985 at the Trinity Arts Centre in Kent, UK. Other solo presentations of the artist’s work have taken place at: the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2012); Jerwood Gallery in Hastings, England (2012); Tate Britain in London, UK (2013); Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum in Tønsberg, Norway (2013); Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg in Germany (2014); Douglas Hyde Gallery in Dublin, Ireland (2015); Space K in Seoul, South Korea (2016); Chapter in Cardiff, UK (2016); Turner Contemporary in Margate, UK (2016); Serpentine Sackler Gallery in London, UK (2017); Plymouth Arts Centre and The Gallery at Plymouth College of Art in Plymouth, UK, an exhibition that traveled to Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange in Cornwall, UK; Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga in Spain (2018); and The Gallery at Windsor in Vero Beach, Florida (2020); among others.
Wylie’s first solo museum presentation in the United States, Rose Wylie: where i am and was, was on view at the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado in 2020. Also that year, the solo exhibition Hullo Hullo Following-on was on view at the Hangaram Art Museum in Seoul, South Korea before traveling to Aram Nuri Arts Center in Goyang, South Korea. In 2021, a solo exhibition of the artist’s work was on view at the Museum Langmatt in Baden, Switzerland.
Wylie is the recipient of the John Moores Painting Prize, presented by the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2014). The artist was also elected as a Senior Royal Academician. In 2015, Wylie received the Royal Academy of Arts’ Charles Wollaston Award. In 2018, Wylie was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for her services to art.
Wylie’s work can be found in prominent collections throughout the United States, Europe and Asia, including: the Arario Museum in Seoul, South Korea; the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, California; the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.; Space K in Seoul, South Korea; Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg in Germany; Tate in London, UK; and Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, UK.
Wylie's work has been represented by David Zwirner since 2017. The artist’s first exhibition at David Zwirner, London, Horse, Bird, Cat, was held in 2016. A second solo presentation, Lolita's House, was on view in 2018. Wylie’s third solo presentation with the gallery, painting a noun…, was on view in Hong Kong, China in 2020. Which One, the artist’s first solo presentation at David Zwirner’s New York location, took place in 2021. The artist’s solo exhibition Car and girls took place at David Zwirner, London in 2022.
Wylie lives and works in Kent, England.
In this print, Wylie revisits an Irish-themed Valentine card that was inspired by an early 20th-century image from a series of postcards entitled "Cupid in Different Climes." This lithograph makes use of motifs from the artist's 2016 painting "Julieta (Film Notes)."More
- Unframed
- Signed recto, numbered verso
- Edition of 40, 15 AP
- Printed by Coriander and Curwen Studios, London
- Published by Utopia Editions
