Joel Wyllie

About the work

The drawing was made sporadically over a few months and went through several stages of transformation until the two figures found their final form. 

I worked on half of it for a period of time, and forgot about it for a while too, not thinking it was going anywhere. I’ve worked a lot in this way recently, having works on the go without having an overly pre-determined direction for them. Allowing them to shrink, grow, be neglected and then remembered; they become records of my time spent with them and allow unexpected forms and compositions to occur. 

About the artist:

Born 1986 London, Joel Wyllie lives and works between Suffolk and London. Graduated from the Royal Academy School, London (2016); and University of the West of England, Bristol (2010).

Pencil drawing has always been at the core of Wyllie's practice but often expands into a multitude of other mediums and scales including printmaking, sculpture and painted murals. Typical of his work are images constructed through layering and playing with patterns, materials and forms. Things move in shifting sequences both in his mind and in physical form, often consolidating into groups of work, spawned from both a claustrophobia of current methods and materials and the draw of new possibilities. The images sometimes morph into stills from narratives which reflect current interests, observations and philosophies. His recent drawings resemble something that look like they could be anatomical studies from science fiction or children’s book illustrations put through a psychedelic filter. 

Wyllie's work is held in public and private collections including Saatchi Collection, Simmons and Simmons, and Hogan Lovell’s collection. 

Selected exhibitions include Return to Naught, Kingsgate Project Space, London (2021); Return to the Body, Chalton Gallery, London (2020); Mind’s Hive, River Street, London (2019); All that the Rain Promises and More, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh (2019); Joel Wyllie Wunderkammer, Chelsea College of Arts, London (2018); Material Wood, Messum’s Wiltshire, Salisbury (2018); ‘28th December 1980’, Asylum Studios, Woodbridge (2018); Sketches of a Future Room with Wavy Frames; two person show with Frank Kent, Chalton Gallery, London (2017); Modest Villa Immense Versailles, Kinman Gallery, London (2016); The Averard Hotel, Slate Projects, London (2016); Vyt Open Studios, The Artists League of New York (2016); Gordon’s Room, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2015); The Kennington Residency with Victoria Adam, London (2015); Premium’s, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2014); Tropical Lab, ICA Singapore (2014); Painting about Painting, Simmons and Simmons, London (2014); Show Off, LeandaKateLouise, London (2014); Cave Art Fair, Liverpool (2012); and Bloomberg New Contemporaries, ICA, London and A Foundation, Liverpool (2010).