Graceland London

British, b. 1992

Graceland London is a British artist born in London. She developed a passion for drawing and painting from a young age. Her fascination for art led her to study a BA in Fine Art and History of Art at Hampstead Fine Arts. It was here that she developed a passion for Italian Renaissance and 15th century Flemish paintings. This passion would have a massive impact on her practice and remains with her to this day.

After concluding her BA, Graceland went on to study 3D Digital Design and Animation at Greenwich University. This experience was also significant in developing her practice and many of the characters and unique motifs that frequently feature in her work were invented and realised in 3 dimensions during this time. This includes a character that she refers to as a ‘squeegie’. This colourful character is represented with a stubble, symbolic in cartoons of being unkempt, and a melancholic expression. She explains this figure represents the ‘ego’ and the ‘shadow’, the part of a person that wants to act in self-destructive ways.[1]

Graceland has exhibited in many prestigious galleries and art fairs, both in the UK and internationally. In 2019 she exhibited at Art Basel Miami and in 2023 she exhibited at Art Basel in Switzerland.

Graceland’s paintings are created using acrylic paint which emphasises the flat surface of the canvas; the complex worlds that she creates are represented in a 2-dimensional universe. However, in stark contrast, she employs oil paint for the representation of certain motifs, rendered with a sophisticated use of shading and patient attention to detail. These motifs appear to be in stark contrast to the rest of the scene, seemingly in relief from the canvas.

Graceland has also developed her practice through the digital medium, creating NFT’s. Stylistically and conceptually, these works are consistent with her canvases. Her approach to representation, which emphasises outline and blocks of colour, is effectively represented through digital painting on an iPad.

Her artwork is created to be explored and dissected. The worlds that she creates are furnished with a vast array of objects, characters and phrases that are full of associations to stimulate the imagination of the viewer. Generally, her approach to composition is to fill the picture plane, taking inspiration from old master painters such as Jan van Eyck, Luca Signorelli and Hieronymus Bosch whose paintings are a treasure trove of details and characters.

A consistent theme that runs throughout her oeuvre is a scepticism towards contemporary Western culture. Featured across her paintings are references to the contemporary social and economic climate. Her paintings include Gucci logos, Donald Trump rubber ducks and references to QAnon (a far-right conspiracy theory and political movement). The fried eggs which feature in many of her works is a particularly poignant expression of her cynical outlook towards the state of the world. Whole eggs have been represented throughout the history of art as a symbol of optimism and new life. Graceland inverts this tradition by representing the egg as fried to symbolise, in a playful way, ‘when you come to this life, you are already doomed...because of how many things are wrong with this world’.

TRAINING
2014 Fine Art and History of Art, Hampstead Fine Arts, London, United Kingdom
2015 BA, Digital Design and Animation, University of Greenwich, London, United Kingdom

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 Summer Daze, Maddox Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2023 Art Basel Week, The Baroque Villa, Basel, Switzerland
2021 Out To Lunch, Maddox Gallery, West Hollywood California, USA
2021 Spring Contemporary, Maddox Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2020 As Above, So Below, Virtual Exhibition, Maddox Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2020 Isolation Mastered, JD Malat Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2020 HerStory - Women in Art, Maddox Gallery, London, UK
2020 The Digital Renaissance Exhibition, Bloomsbury Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2019 The Art Plug Powerhouse at Art Basel Miami Week, The Citadel, Miami, Florida, USA
2019 The Art of Nightlife, Art Basel Miami, E11even, Miami, Florida, USA
2019 Blockchain Art Exchange, 180 Queen's Gate, London, United Kingdom
2019 The Shop Windown by Mr.President, 4 Northington Street, London, United Kingdom
2018 Chocolate and Art Show, The Vortex, Los Angeles, California, USA
2017 Myth and Lore Exhibition by Esoteric Art, Styx London, London, United Kingdom