Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London
2017
November 30, 2017–February 11, 2018
"Rose Wylie is why we need artists" states Time Out London's review ofQuack Quack, the artist's solo exhibition at the Serpentine. For Jonathan Jones writing in The Guardian, "The freedom and courage of Rose Wylie shows a way forward for painting in this century."
Quack Quackfeatured paintings and works on paper dating from the late 1990s to the present day, including new works that were being exhibited for the first time. The exhibition was curated by Melissa Blanchflower.
Wylie often works from memory, drawing on cultural areas such as film, fashion, literature, mythology, the news, and people she meets; her colorful, exuberant compositions frequently merge political, social, and autobiographical elements. Quack Quack included a 2017 series of paintings of which two works—Park Dogs & Air Raid and Park Duck (both 2017)—had never been shown before.
London's Kensington Gardens, where Wylie recalls seeing dogfights in the sky as a child during the Blitz (the artist's older brothers taught her to recognize different aircraft), are the subject of Park Dogs & Air Raid, a new four-canvas painting created specifically for the Serpentine exhibition.
A catalogue on the occasion of the exhibition was published by the Serpentine Galleries and Koenig books.