LONDON.- The Royal Academy of Arts presents the largest survey to date of celebrated British artist and Royal Academician Rose Wylie. Known for her bold, figurative practice that draws from diverse references across art history, ancient civilisations, literature, cinema, celebrity culture, current affairs and immediate surroundings, this exhibition brings together over 90 works, including Wylie’s most iconic artworks, alongside new and previously unseen paintings and drawings.

A painter of contemporary life, Wylie’s paintings and works on paper chronicle the times she has lived through, from her experience of the Blitz as a young girl, to more quotidian events such as a summer evening with friends. Arranged thematically, the exhibition begins with early memories of family life and bombing raids in London during the Second World War, recalled in paintings such as Rosemount (Coloured), 1999, (Private Collection) and Wing Tips and Blue Doodlebugs, 2022/23 (David Zwirner, London). As a student at Folkestone and Dover School of Art, Kent in the 1950s, Wylie studied anatomical drawing and figurative painting. Following a break in her career to raise a family, from the mid-1980s Wylie devoted herself to painting again, establishing a studio in her Kent house where she still works today. The exhibition presents Room Project 2002-3, Wylie’s first major series to receive significant critical acclaim. These works reveal Wylie’s voracious ambition to create large paintings that present an immersive, playful world, populated by cats, paper dolls, Olympic swimmers and the artist wearing a favourite checked skirt.

The exhibition includes several works on paper, including Bottom Teeth, Self-Portrait, 2016 (Private Collection). For Wylie, drawing is crucial, as declared in the painting Hand: Drawing as Central, 2022 (SMAK, Ghent). She draws every day, building a vast memory bank of visual references. Later, sometimes years after, a specific visual motif that has been distilled to its essential character will find its way into a painting, often juxtaposed with unexpected graphic companions or written words. A number of paintings from the series Film Notes have been brought together for this exhibition, revealing Wylie’s fascination with film. Wylie is interested in the way the camera can zoom in for a close-up or capture different perspectives and angles within the same scene. Dramatic shots alongside more incidental details become seared in her memory and are recreated as paintings such as Kill Bill (Film Notes), 2007 and Natural Born Killers, Long-shot (Film Notes), 2018 (both Private Collection).

Newspapers and the internet provide another source of inspiration, in particular photographs capturing items or individuals in the public eye, from a Babylonian artefact to an actress on the red carpet. It is the visual impact of these reproduced images that merits Wylie’s attention, not who they are or the stories they tell. The exhibition brings together an ensemble of works such as Black Strap (Red Fly), 2011 and Pink Skater (Will I Win, Will I Win), 2015 (both Private Collection) that speak to the 21st century’s consumption of information through the mediated image. Inspiration also comes from Wylie’s immediate surroundings: her home filled with objects and items that accumulate meaning for her; the garden with her cat, Pete; and the small community of neighbours around her. Daily life is recorded as a visual diary, whether the satisfaction of an enjoyable meal or a stimulating dinner with friends, providing Wylie with endless source material for her work.

The exhibition concludes with four large monochromatic paintings of animals in ginger, black, blue and red. These were made by the artist painting directly on to the canvas with her hands, allowing the process of manipulating the paint to determine the image. The thickly applied paint imbues these monumental works with a visceral, tactile presence that speaks to the energy and enjoyment of their making. The subject matter is recognisable, but it is this process of transforming an image beyond conventional representation that holds the meaning for Wylie. The picture comes first.