Kathryn Maple – A Year of Drawings

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Yes. I tend to have quite a few paintings on the go at once so I’m often moving between works, but I do try to find ways of breaking repetition perhaps changing how I use the paintbrush or using collage. I find different kinds of actions quite useful [for my practice]. Last year, I did a drawing a day for a year – they are being exhibited in London in March. I would go out at lunch time and do a drawing outside. It’s good to get some fresh air and the lighting is a bit strange in the studio – I sometimes feel a bit like I’m at the bottom of a tropical fish tank. One of the main focuses of the show is Modigliani’s nudes. 12 of these are on display together in this exhibition, making it the largest collection of his nudes ever to be collectively exhibited in the UK. In the 1910 as the art world was losing interest in the nude, Modigliani revived and enriched the subject. He found a way to present the body as a person, who was living, breathing and feeling— deep in sleep, thought or desire —without falling into the trap of appearing to be a distant voyeur or becoming a humiliating exhibitor of objectified flesh. The sensual nature of these nudes, in fact led to Modigliani’s only ever solo show being censored by the police for indecency.

While Maple depicts areas of sought-after tranquillity in cities, such as parks and graveyards, she is also keenly aware of the sociality of humans. Her use of collage in‘The Late Bus’ (2022)nods to the multiplicity of crowds and moments of connection shared by strangers.I left the show feeling encouraged by the idiosyncrasies of humans and nature and reminded of the dual qualities of living in cities – the promise of crowds and chance encounters in contrast to loneliness, which can then swing to claustrophobia. ­The link to climate change mentioned in the press release, however, seemed tenuous, and I struggled to see evidence of this in the works themselves. At the Walker there’s been a decent history of LGBTQI+ art – for example the Coming Outexhibition in 2017. But that was temporary, whereas this shows permanent additions. These artworks are in the collection along with works people know the Walker for, such as the Pre-Raphaelites. We’re putting our money where our mouth is – literally sometimes – when we’re buying work to add to the collection, to show we rate it as important as historical works.’The auction closes at 9pm, Mon 5th July. However, if a bid is placed in the last two minutes, the auction end time will extend on that lot for an additional two minutes, or until all bidding has ceased. This is called Popcorn Bidding or Bidder Extension and gives all bidders an equal chance of winning. Bid Increments

Kathryn will also show images from ‘A Year of Drawings’, a new book and exhibition for which Kathryn made a new drawing everyday between January and December 2022. The works will be shown at Lyndsey Ingram Gallery, London in March. Five prizewinning paintings from the John Moores Painting Prize China will also be displayed during the run of the exhibition. Organised by the College of Fine Arts at Shanghai University, the China Prize was launched in 2010 to support the development of painting in China.The 2020 jury represent a diverse group of artists and creative influencers: Hurvin Anderson; Michelle Williams Gamaker; Alison Goldfrapp; Jennifer Higgie and Gu Wenda. When I've been out drawing you can see repetitive things, people walking the same routes. If you're static and people and cars are moving around you, you can notice these moments. I see it very much as form of cataloguing.