East End Academy: The Painting Edition

About

This exhibition provides a timely opportunity to review some of the latest developments in British painting. It brings together twelve distinct positions which each address the pertinent issues facing painting today. Varda Caivano's multi-layered canvases, Robert Holyhead's delicate compositions, and Henrijs Preiss' arrangements of circles and lines offer three different takes on abstraction. Luke Dowd employs spray paint to depict valuable commodities. Nature and landscape are shared references for two painters otherwise as diverse as Andy Harper and Guy Allott whereas the function of memory is key to Lara Viana's work. Emily Wolfe, Zara Matthews and Bruno Pacheco all embrace photography in their painting, be it through found images or carefully staged tableaux. Daniel Kelly assembles large-scale architectural collages on the gallery wall while Cullinan Richards explore painting's mode of presentation through complex installations. The artists were selected from over 600 submissions by a panel comprising Gillian Carnegie, painter and Turner Prize nominee, Marion Naggar, collector, Francis Outred, European Head of Post War and Contemporary Art at Christie's, Barry Schwabsky, critic and Anthony Spira, Director of Milton Keynes Gallery. East End Academy is a triennial exhibition open to all artists living or working in east London. First organised in 1932, this latest version is uniquely devoted to painting. By showcasing the work of artists in the early stages of their career, East End Academy offers a snapshot of the extraordinary breadth and vitality of art produced by the thousands of practitioners who live and work near to the Whitechapel Gallery. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication including entries on each artist.