Graceland London: Spotlight on the Shadows
30th August, 2024 – 6th October, 2024
Halcyon Gallery
29 New Bond Street
W1S 2RL
Halcyon Gallery is proud to introduce female artist Graceland London to its gallery programme. Spotlight on the Shadows will be the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery and will present an expansive survey of 30 artworks created over the last two years. The works provide a unique opportunity to explore the full scope of her vibrant, nuanced, dark and playful sensibility.
Image of courtesy of Halcyon Gallery
Halcyon Gallery’s curatorial team has worked with Graceland London to transform 29 New Bond Street into an immersive space, reinforcing the potency of her intoxicating worlds with 3-dimensional installations that recreate her visual inventions across the gallery. Graceland London’s training in 3D animation and design has significantly informed her practice. It has led her to invent an array of unique characters and motifs that are a part of her distinctive visual language. The universe that she creates beyond the picture surface is conceived through candy colours and playful articulations of form.
Image of courtesy of Halcyon Gallery
The artist also has a background in art history and her fascination with the Old Masters has had a major impact on her work. Her paintings repeatedly reference art historical traditions, and she completes many of her motifs with oil painting techniques that recall Northern European 15th century paintings by the likes of Jan van Eyck and Hieronymus Bosch. However, she also reimagines and repurposes tradition to address contemporary themes.
Through the alternative reality that Graceland London creates, she shines a spotlight on the challenges of 21 st century life with the use of symbols and iconography, derived from both art history and contemporary culture. Her art addresses mental health, addiction, conspiracy theories, conspicuous consumption and commercialism, and many of the other themes that characterise our time, with an equal measure of pessimism and humour.
In conjunction with the launch of original paintings at Halcyon Gallery, the London-born artist will release a set of limited-edition Spotlight on the Shadows prints with sister gallery Castle Fine Art.
Image of courtesy of Halcyon Gallery
In discussing her work, Graceland London explains: ‘My artistic approach is a blend of tradition and innovation. I utilise the flat acrylic technique but incorporate a single use of traditional oil paint within each composition. This juxtaposition allows me to marry the vibrancy and immediacy of acrylics with the richness of oils. It’s a deliberate choice to imbue my work with a sense of depth and texture that creates visual interest. By integrating these two mediums, I aim to form a dynamic visual experience that speaks to the intersection of tradition and modernity in art.’
Paul Green, President and Founder of Halcyon Gallery, announced: ‘Graceland London is a fascinating emerging artist with a unique and daring approach to painting. We are proud to add this exciting female artist to the gallery’s programme.’
Graceland London: Spotlight on the Shadows opens on the 30th of August, 2024 until the 6th of October, 2024 at Halcyon Gallery
©2024 Halcyon Gallery
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