Lost Territories at Charlie Smith London

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