Life is overtaking me, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21 Palma, 2023.
Life is overtaking me, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21 Palma, 2023.
Life is overtaking me, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21 Palma, 2023.
Life is overtaking me, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21 Palma, 2023.
Life is overtaking me, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21 Palma, 2023.
Life is overtaking me, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21 Palma, 2023.
Life is overtaking me, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21 Palma, 2023.
Life is overtaking me, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21 Palma, 2023.
Life is overtaking me, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21 Palma, 2023.
Life is overtaking me, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21 Palma, 2023.
Untitled, 2023
Oil on canvas
200 x 135 cm
Untitled, 2023
Oil on canvas
160 x 130 cm
Untitled, 2023
Oil on canvas
162 x 132 cm
Untitled, 2023
Oil on canvas
170 x 200 cm
Untitled, 2023
Oil on canvas
170 x 200 cm
Untitled, 2023
Oil on canvas
180 x 250 cm
The painting practice of Joe Cheetham (b. 1992, Epsom) defies static categorisation, fluidly adapting style and medium to articulate varied moments of human emotion. As such, Cheetham’s current exhibition “Life is overtaking me” can be perceived as a non-linear continuation of his first solo show at L21 “Something for the weekend” (Palma de Mallorca, 2021). While in his previous work the use of cartoonish figures, primary colours and an ingenious spray paint technique allowed the artist to capture the frenzied communal joy of bodies raving, this new body of work, executed in oil, uses a muted palette and a more subtle approach to create a quiet, yet pervasive sense of anxiety, insecurity and alienation.
Cheetham’s latest paintings evade traditional compositions of foreground and background, creating scenes where form and colour exist on a single plane. The artist plays with a deliberate ambiguity of time, gender and physical expression to build a tension that exists just under the surface. Within these scenes the figures coalesce, closely occupying the same space and yet never touching or interacting, turning away from each other, seemingly uncomfortable in their proximity. With subtly distorted and exaggerated human forms the characters are equally distinct and homogenous. The character’s gaze finds the viewer but never quite engages, instead looking through, past or beyond, their expressions at once sad, neutral, questioning, even suspicious.
The paintings are heavily cropped and densely populated, deliberately obscuring and concealing what the viewer sees. Like his characters, Cheetham’s focus exists both inside and outside of the frame, carefully controlling what is seen and crucially unseen. The characters, externally lit, seem vulnerable and exposed, as if threatened both by the light’s source and the shadows it creates. These prominent shadows lurk, detached from the bodies, forming figures of their own to contribute to a sense of claustrophobic unease.
Made within the context of a global pandemic, environmental collapse, cultures of individualism and systems of greed, the paintings included in ‘Life is overtaking me’ speak to the sense of isolation and creeping malaise caused by contemporary existence.
From a conversation between Joe Cheetham and Cristina Ramos.
EN / ES
“Something for the weekend”, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21.
“Something for the weekend”, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21.
“Something for the weekend”, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21.
“Something for the weekend”, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21.
“Something for the weekend”, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21.
“Something for the weekend”, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21.
Something for the weekend #8, 2021. Spray paint on canvas. 180 x 300 cm
“Something for the weekend”, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21.
“Something for the weekend”, solo exhibition by Joe Cheetham. Installation view at L21.
Something for the weekend #1, 2021. Spray paint on canvas. 180 x 260 cm
Something for the weekend #8, 2021. Spray paint on canvas. 180 x 300 cm
Something for the weekend #9, 2021. Spray paint on canvas. 180 x 300 cm
Something for the weekend #7, 2021. Spray paint on canvas. 180 x 300 cm
Something for the weekend #6, 2021. Spray paint on canvas. 80 x 300 cm
Something for the weekend #4, 2021. Spray paint on canvas. 180 x 300 cm
Something for the weekend #3, 2021. Spray paint on canvas. 180 x 300 cm
Something for the weekend #5, 2021. Spray paint on canvas. 180 x 300 cm
For his first solo exhibition at L21, Glasgow-based artist Joe Cheetham presents an ambitious frieze of new works in the largest gallery room. Providing us with ‘something for the weekend’, Cheetham’s exhibition encapsulates the promise and positivity of coming together to go out, offering an unabashed reflection on communal joy as a vital antidote for uncertain times.
As the week becomes the weekend and crowds pour into venues that open late and close early, time is suspended and complex emotion simplified. The intoxicating closeness and incessant beat consume, as heads let go and bodies move in time. Sincere in celebrating the tastelessness of a big night out, Cheetham’s paintings are executed with a manic exuberance, abrim with partying detritus, loud clothes, wild eyes and billowing blunts. Relentlessly positive the works depict revellers whose limbs interlock and hands hold. Cheetham’s figures are supportive, unified and full with the rising rush and heady expectation of the dance floor.
As if overflowing, both figures and canvas surface drip – sweat and paint – physical exertion contained only by the extremities of their support. Working literally back to front, Cheetham forces spray paint through the reverse of his surface, relinquishing the control of his pencil studies, through loose passages of colour and line. Painting in such a way, Cheetham’s first moves remain prominent, with subsequent gesture offering no recourse for alteration or erasure. The permanence of this one-shot technique necessitating not only technical conviction, but an acceptance of the unpredictable soak of paint through material weave. Recalling the uninhibited spaces that inspire his work, Cheetham’s process teeters on the edge of control – imbuing his surface with a material energy that complements the liberating chaos of his figuration.
At the gallery’s extremity, the marauding figures are spun around and spat up the adjacent wall towards the gallery’s opposing end as if trapped in a loop of perpetual excess. For what appears so simple in the dance can never be in the day – despair lurks on the other side of euphoria, as Sunday meets Monday, with Friday never further away. This harbinger of ‘real-life’ remains ever present in Cheetham’s paintings as blissed-out gurns fight exhausted grimaces as the hedonism of the night meets the inevitable morning after.
Indeed, as we continue to be physically separated by the current pandemic, the collective catharsis of the dance floor is perhaps needed now more than ever. No longer merely just ‘something for the weekend’, the return of the dance provides a symbol of hope, marking a future when we can all be together again – for it will be towards the healing spaces of the night that many of us will gravitate – to rediscover, reconnect and release.
Joe Cheetham/L21
Joe Cheetham (Epsom, UK, 1992) lives and works in Glasgow. Cheetham’s practice explores the constant evolution of club culture (such as the transition from day to night, sunset to sunrise, ecstasy to serenity), incorporating gestural marks and a vivid colour palette. Recent solo exhibitions include: Can you feel it?, TACO!, London (2019) and Such a good feeling, Jackob Kroon Galeri, Worthing (2019). His work has been shown collectively at Untiled (But Loved), Bosse & Baum (2020); Full English, Platform Southwark (curated by Dateagle Art, 2019); Sinkhole Project, London (2018); Wherever you Land, Slugtown, Newcastle (2018); Welcome to Suede, Suede Gallery, Edinburgh (2016); No Bad Wednesdays, Voidoid Archive, Glasgow (in collaboration with Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, 2016) and Interim, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh (2016).
EN / ES
Joe Cheetham (b.1992) lives and works in Glasgow, UK. His work focuses on figurative painting and its expanded installation, fluidly adapting style and medium to articulate varied moments of human emotion. Expanding on a long-standing interest in club and cartooning, his latest paintings mark a shift in medium and focus as Cheetham adopts the versatility of oil paint to produce works that address the physical tension and isolation of contemporary existence.
Solo exhibitions include: ‘Something for the Weekend’, L21 Gallery, Palma de Mallorca (2021);‘Can you feel it?’ TACO!, London (2019); ‘Such a good feeling’, Jackob Kroon Gallery, Worthing (2019) and ‘Joe Cheetham’, Trade Gallery, Nottingham. Group exhibitions include: ‘Full English’, Platform Southwark (curated by Dateagle Art, 2019); ‘Sinkhole Project’, London (curated by Ginny Projects, 2018); ‘Wherever you Land’, Slugtown, Newcastle (2018); ‘Welcome to Suede’, Suede Gallery, Edinburgh (2016); ‘No Bad Wednesdays’, Voidoid Archive, Glasgow (in collaboration with Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, 2016) and ‘Interim’, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh (2016).
EDUCATION
2017
MFA Contemporary Art Practice, Edinburgh College of Art
2014
BA Fine Art (First Class International Honours), University of Leeds and University of California Santa Barbara
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
Life is overtaking me. L21 Palma, Palma de Mallorca (ES)
2021
Something for the Weekend. L21 Palma, Palma de Mallorca (ES)
2019
Can you feel it? TACO!, London (UK)
Such a good feeling. Jakob Kroon Galeri, Worthing (UK)
2018
Joe Cheetham. Trade Gallery, Nottingham (UK)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Entre Cajas. L21 Palma, Palma (ES)
2022
Looking through the window wearing only socks. L21 Gallery, Palma de Mallorca (ES)
2021
Looking through the window wearing only socks. L21 LAB, Palma de Mallorca (ES)
2020
Untiled (But Loved). Bosse & Baum, London (UK)
2019
Full English (curated by Dateagle Art). Platform Southwark, London (UK)
2018
Sinkhole Project. Ginny Projects, London (UK)
Shiner. West Barns Arts, Dunbar (UK)
Wherever you Land. Slugtown (UK)
2017
MFA Degree Show. Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh (UK)
2016
Welcome to Suede. Suede Gallery, Edinburgh (UK)
No Bad Wednesdays (in collaboration with Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh). Voidoid Archive, Glasgow (UK)
Interim. Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh (UK)
ART FAIRS
2023
ARCO 23. L21 Gallery, Madrid (ES)
2022
UNTITLED ART MIAMI. L21 Gallery, Miami (US)
SWAB 22. L21 Gallery, Barcelona (ES)
ARCO 22, Madrid (ES)
2021
ARCO 21, Madrid (ES)
RESIDENCIES
2022
L21 Residency, Palma de Mallorca (ES)
2019
L21 Gallery X Camper Foundation, Palma de Mallorca (ES)
AWARDS
2016
Andrew Grant Scholarship, Edinburgh College of Art (UK)