Joella Wheatley: From this Corner to Another

About

In this exhibition London based artist Joella Wheatley looks upon secluded spaces that we use as hideaways or places to withdrawal into. Her work represents the exploration of her own personal space, where she thinks, develops and spends her time. They encompass a subjective world that is made up of experiences and feelings of loneliness, uncertainty and emptiness. The spaces are designed to be a symbol of solitude within the imagination and demonstrate how the everyday can be transformed by our own thoughts.

When exploring these small intimate spaces there is one place that has brought more understanding and depth towards her work than any other; this being the corners of a room. Putting yourself in a corner is the most concentrated form of solitude, and provides escapism from distractions: being in this corner is the absolute expression of your complete withdrawal. With only the hours you have spent in your corner, silence is above all remembered. The work that Joella produces is about the simplicity of a thought and how to represent this thought in its truest and most original form.

In this series of work Joella creates architectural spaces. Using two-point perspective, utilising infinite plotted points and drawn lines to create pictorial illusory space that is seemingly physical and inhabitable. She inserts geometrical solids into these delineated spaces using oil paint, which produces an effect of physical dislocation.

Her paintings are formed of many layers and she explores a variety of media such as acrylic, oil and pen on board, with each medium having its own distinctive role. From painting to drawing and back to painting again, the work goes through many stages of development. She explores a number of panel shape formats including hexagons, octagons and circles. These shapes are part of the illusion that is created and they allow the viewer to observe the spaces she creates without feeling constrained or restricted, leaving the possibility of exploration to the viewer. 

Joella Wheatley is a London based artist who received her BA (Hons) from Arts University Bournemouth in 2012. Recent solo exhibition: ‘Forgotten Lines’ Aspex Gallery (2014). Group exhibitions include Mapping Time, Frameless Gallery, London (2015) The Zeitgeist Open, London (2014) The Future Can wait Collaboration with Saatchi New Sensations, London (2014) I Cheer A Dead Man’s Sweetheart, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill (2014) In 2014 Joella was awarded the Interregional Culture-Led Regeneration Award and won the Platform Graduate award in 2012. Other shortlisted awards and residency’s include: Bryant and Keeling Painting Prize (2014) Beers Contemporary Visions (2014) Assllop Gallery Residency, Dorset (2012)

www.joellawheatley.co.uk