A portrait of Zoe Spowage in front of one of her paintings

Workplace is pleased to launch the latest instalment of Focus, a series of online exhibitions in the which the practice of artists at early stages of their career and new to the gallery programme are introduced through a body of work, curated specifically for each presentation.

For this Focus we introduce the work of Zoe Spowage a Leeds-based visual artist and Falmouth University graduate, working in large-scale painting and drawing with dye, acrylic, and pastel. Her bold, expressive works explore themes of femininity, threat, and humour, influenced by her background as a scenic artist 

WG: Alongside your practice you worked for many years as a scenic artist. How do you think this has influenced your own work?

ZS: Working as a scenic artist inspired me so much with the physicality of making, scale and materials but I think the deepest effect is thinking-on my audience, I want to be generous, to give something with drama and theatre. I see them as ‘along for the ride’ and as ‘up for a show’. I am performing for them. 

WG: Most of your paintings exclusively feature women in poses of strength, vulnerability and rest. Can you talk more about this?

ZS:In Hazelnut I’m raging, snarling like my Dad, this face is modelled on his. As a new parent, these states cycle through my day to day, and keep me moving, tripping and flying forwards. Lord give me strength, vulnerable like an overturned turtle, and I think it’s my turn to rest. 

WG: There’s often a wry humour present in your works. Is this an important element in their construction?

ZS: Humour is a natural lubricant, for your abrasive thoughts, to aid connection with other people. Highlighting the absurdity of a situation helps to tell the story of the thing. Once you know the story, you have perspective. It’s a process of simplification, or just a way to take pleasure.

WG: In this new body of work you’ve utilised a really vivid and saturated colour palette as well as incorporated very gestural marks with pastels that interrupt the confident and illustrative lines demarcating the figures. Can you talk more about this new direction in these paintings?

ZS: I see this work as part 2, the post-birth offering of a body of work. Part 1 (in Utero) being ‘Pet’ which was springy and sparse. Part 2 (in World) is electric and forgiving. 

WG: You tend to work on a large scale with the figures depicted appear in life-size or even larger. Do you want the paintings to feel monumental in how they command a space?

ZS: This is a neutral scale for me, it’s hard to say why. But I truly find it hard to shift smaller, or larger. Yes, I love how they command the space, it’s like drawing a room-full. 

WG: Are your compositions based on your specific imagery, memory or something else?

ZS: I draw indiscriminately, I can be very repetitive or dismissive but try to keep it as a pleasure-seeking activity. Shapes and colours can have little barbs that get snagged on me, until they germinate. 

A detail of a painting by Zoe Spowage of a naked woman holding two blue forms under her arms

United Kingdom

London

WORKPLACE

Workplace presents Zoe Spowage's bold, large-scale paintings and drawings. Her expressive works delve into femininity, threat, and humour, offering a fresh perspective.