Richard Wathen

Wathen’s paintings draw inspiration from a variety of art historical periods, mixed with disguised, self-fashioned autobiographic references. Together with the uncertain appearance and placement of figures and animals, he creates a distinct sense of unease in reference to the nature of individuality. Although he appears to adopt the vernacular of portraiture, Wathen does not consider his paintings as portraits but manifestations of something previously unconsidered brought into view. Beginning as self-portraits, the artist intentionally distorts anatomic details in order to redefine his subjects’ personhood and to apply the Cubists’ idea of multiple viewpoints to time. For instance, Olive (2004) is not the oddity of a young girl with grey hair, but a portrait containing all the ages of a person at once. The artist’s curiosity is caught when sifting through images – from reproductions of Master paintings to commercial photography and personal snapshots. In Once Removed (2006) the devise of an erased figure refers to the painting The Brontë Sisters by Branwell Brontë (1834) seems to ask: who is missing and why? An absence establishes uncertain relationships between individuals. Each image seems familiar but for Wathen the portraits have a psychological charge. Moreover, the relationship of his figures with an animal, in particular a rabbit, refers to vulnerability – the person who holds the rabbit holds protectiveness and control, love and complacency – and our insecurities. But all his animal paintings are also a way of stretching the painter’s formal and technical vocabulary. Appropriated from different sources, whether scientific and fantastical, the variable anatomies of birds and mammals appear at once ridiculous and plausible. Nature is not known for her logical composure and, like the painter, she is not without a sense of humour. Wathen’s paintings leak their meaning slowly, time structures that have been set up, their anachronisms and compressions.

Wathen (b. 1971, London, UK) lives and works in London. In 2007 he had solo exhibitions at L&M Arts (NYC), Max Wigram Gallery, and participated in the group show Old School at Hauser & Wirth Colnaghi (London) / Zwirner & Wirth (NYC). Since 2003 Wathen has taken part in group exhibitions in the UK and internationally including a solo at Salon 94 (NYC), the group shows The Monty Hall Problem at Blum & Poe (Los Angeles), Silent Stories at Galerie Martin Janda (Vienna) and Britannia Works (curated by Katerina Gregos) at Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre & Xippas Gallery (Athens).

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