Rose Wylie (b.1934)

About the artist 

British artist Rose Wylie (b. 1934) has become known for her uniquely recognizable, colorful, and exuberant compositions that at first glance appear aesthetically simplistic, not seeming to align with any discernible style or movement, but on closer inspection are revealed to be wittily observed and subtly sophisticated meditations on the nature of visual representation itself. The artist has long been interested in exploring perspectival and compositional strategies other than, and as well as, traditional Renaissance perspective, frequently making numerous iterations of a given theme or motif as a means of advancing her formal investigation. Working in both single- and multi-panel formats, she regularly juxtaposes apparently disparate imagery, creating visual rhymes and resonances that coalesce into a unified composition.  

Wylie studied at Folkestone and Dover School of Art, Kent, England, and the Royal College of Art, London, from which she graduated in 1981. The artist’s first solo exhibition took place in 1985 at the Trinity Arts Centre, in Kent. In recent years, she has had solo presentations at venues including the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts, Philadelphia (2012); Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, England (2012); Tate Britain, London (2013); Haugar kunstmuseum, Tønsberg, Norway (2013); Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Germany (2014); Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (2015); Space K, Seoul (2016); Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, Wales (2016); Turner Contemporary, Margate, England (2016); Serpentine Gallery, London (2017); Plymouth Arts Centre and The Gallery at Plymouth College of Art, England (an exhibition that traveled to Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange in Cornwall, England); Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, Spain (2018); and The Gallery at Windsor, Vero Beach, Florida (2020).  

In 2020, where i am and was, the artist’s first solo museum presentation in the United States, was on view at the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado. Also in 2020, the solo exhibition Hullo Hullo Following-on was on view at the Hangaram Art Museum in Seoul, before traveling to the Aram Nuri Arts Center, Goyang, South Korea in 2021. A solo exhibition of the artist's work was on view at the Museum Langmatt, Baden, Switzerland, in 2021. In 2022, the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (S.M.A.K.), Ghent, Belgium, presented picky people notice…. The solo presentation Hullo, Again was on view in 2023 at Place C in Gyeongju, South Korea.  

Wylie is the recipient of the John Moores Painting Prize, presented by the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, in 2014, and the same year was also elected a senior academician to the Royal Academy of Arts. In 2015, she received the Royal Academy of Arts’s Charles Wollaston Award. In 2018, she received the South Bank Sky Arts Award in recognition of her exhibition at the Serpentine Galleries the previous year and was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for her services to art.  

The artist's work has been represented by the gallery since 2017. Wylie’s first exhibition at David Zwirner, London, Horse, Bird, Cat, was held in 2016, and her second solo presentation Lolita's House was on view in 2018. painting a noun…, the artist’s third solo presentation with the gallery, was on view in Hong Kong in 2020. In 2021, David Zwirner presented Which One, the artist's first solo exhibition at the gallery's New York location. The solo exhibition Car and girls was on view at David Zwirner, London in 2022. In September 2023, a solo exhibition of Wylie’s work, CLOSE, not too close, was on view at David Zwirner’s newly opened Los Angeles location. Wylie lives and works in Kent, England.  

Wylie’s work can be found in prominent collections throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia, including Arario Museum, Seoul; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC; Space K, Seoul; Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Germany; Tate, United Kingdom; and the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.