Lydia Blakeley
Lydia Blakeley's subject matter is the world around her, or rather the world translated through the screen of her cameraphone or her laptop. She constantly records or screenshots what interests her in the flux of visual imagery that she is surrounded by. She then uses that source material to make paintings that have a viewpoint that superficially might resemble her source material but on closer inspection interrogates questions around aspiration, commercialism and the artificiality of social media. Her subject matter ranges widely but is linked through the idea of what we are told we should aspire to. Perfect holidays, immaculate teeth, television shows of what constitutes hip food, streetwear, the esoteric world of best-in-show pets.
Blakeley's process of making paintings of such seemingly disparate subject matter has an effect of filtering those subjects through a particular sensibility. The rapidness and overwhelming nature of visual culture is slowed, perhaps even momentarily stilled, by the process of selection and the act of painting. Blakeley often close crops a particular part of the image that she is working from, and then starts with a pink underpainting. From there she makes a chalk pastel sketch on top of the underpainting, adds a wash of colour, and then returns to work on details. There is an evenness to the surface of her paintings that results from the consistency of this technique but this process also brings out a certain evenness of gaze that is dispassionate, deadpan and cool.
Since completing her MFA at Goldsmiths College in 2019 her career has progressed strongly; from group shows to solo shows at commercial galleries, and from her first major institutional group show at the Hayward Gallery (curated by Ralph Rugoff) in 2021, to her first institutional solo last year at Southwark Park Galleries.
-
7 of the Best Artworks of Armory Week 2023
Artnet News, Artnet, September 10, 2023 -
Interview with Lydia Blakeley
Valentina Di Liscia, Hyperallergic, September 8, 2023 -
The Cultural Highlights You Might Have Missed In 2022
Kate Lloyd, Vogue, December 27, 2022 -
The best (and worst) art exhibitions of 2022
Eddy Frankel, Time Out, London, November 15, 2022 -
Must See | Lydia Blakeley
Artforum, September 21, 2022 -
Summer of discontent: two London shows pose burning environmental questions amid UK heatwave
Louisa Buck, The Art Newspaper, August 18, 2022 -
Lydia Blakeley: The High Life
Eddy Frankel, Time Out, London, July 21, 2022 -
Beast in Show: why animals rule the artworks
Francesca Gavin, Financial Times, April 27, 2022 -
Peak Floyd
Thomas Marks, Apollo Magazine, February 1, 2022 -
Lockdown easing: the best gallery shows to see in London right now.
Kabir Jhala, The Art Newspaper, April 12, 2021 -
The Art Market | Bidding battles and gallery moves in step with uncertain times
Melanie Gerlis, Financial Times, July 30, 2020 -
Niru Ratnam Opens New London Gallery
Louisa Buck, The Art Newspaper, July 17, 2020
-
Winners
Lydia Blakeley 15 Sep - 22 Oct 2022'So the winner takes it all, And the loser has to fall' (Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus) The universal human urge to win has many different explanations. Theories put forward...Read more -
Classics
Lydia Blakeley 2 Nov 2020 - 24 Apr 2021For her solo exhibition 'Classics' Lydia Blakeley has made paintings based on the pictures of food seen in recipe books and magazines, paintings of young men wearing leisurewear and portraits...Read more -
Suture
Kobby Adi, Lydia Blakeley, Jala Wahid 15 Jul - 29 Aug 2020“Are you alive? I touch you. You quiver like a sea-fish” H.D ‘The Pool’ (1915) “Suture’s purpose is the stitching together of human consciousness in narrative” George Butte, ‘Suture...Read more
-
Palazzo Monti Residency
Curated by Katy Hessel December 17, 2022Palazzo Monti, launched in March 2017, is an Artist Residency program located in an eight centuries old palazzo in the city of Brescia, Italy. The...Read more -
'The High Life' at Southwark Park Galleries, London
Lydia Blakeley's first solo institutional exhibition July 10, 2022The High Life will be Lydia Blakeley’s largest solo exhibition in the UK presenting a series of paintings, painted sculptural sun loungers and cool box...Read more -
'Mixing it up: Painting Today' at Hayward Gallery, London
Lydia Blakeley and Matthew Krishanu September 9, 2021An exhibition of 31 artists, including Blakeley and Krishanu, whose works entrance, transfix and challenge us, Mixing It Up celebrates paintings that bring together diverse...Read more -
'Vocation' by Lydia Blakeley
Lydia Blakeley commission by Leeds City College January 13, 2021Lydia Blakeley presents a new series of paintings which features students who attend Leeds City College. Blakeley’s exploration into portraiture brings together individual’s who enrich...Read more
-
The Armory Show, New York
Lydia Blakeley 7 - 10 Sep 2023The gallery will present a solo exhibiton of Lydia Blakeley drawing inspiration from her solo exhibition at Southwark Park Galleries, London (2022).Read more -
The Armory Show, New York
Lydia Blakeley & Emma Cousin 8 Sep - 11 Dec 2022Niru Ratnam exhibited contemporary British painters, Lydia Blakeley and Emma Cousin in the 'Presents' sector for The Armory Show 2022. Both Blakeley and Cousin make...Read more