Joana Galego, Lesson in Braille, 2023
Acrylic on paper, 30 x 21cm
Portugese-born artist Joana Galego’s images are informed by – in her words – ‘memories and feelings rather than actual events’. Firmly rooted in drawing, her paintings and works on paper are characterised by a vibrant palette and a visual language partly inspired by historical artists including Piero de la Francesca and Paul Gaugin.
Joana uses layering and changes of perspective to create multiple narratives within her compositions, which range from intimate to grand in scale. Figures – both adult and childlike – are seen hiding, embracing, resting and playing together in a range of dreamlike scenarios. However, a sense of stillness prevails, despite the activities of the artist’s subjects.
In this unframed painting on paper, the artist’s young subject is seen in deep concentration; it is only the pictures title which tells the viewer what she is studying as it is hidden from sight. The brushes in the foreground, however, suggest artistic activities; areas of negative space on the paper create flashes of light evocative of a sudden flashback. Joana says; ‘Memories of small moments become opportunities to reflect on what it means to be a daughter, a child amongst the adults, a girl, a woman.
Joana graduated from the University of Lisbon in 2016 and subsequently moved to London to attend the Royal Drawing School between 2016 and 2017. Her work has been exhibited in numerous group shows in London and Portugal including the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize for which she was shortlisted in 2019. Solo exhibitions include ‘Spring and All’ at the Royal Drawing School, London, in 2019, and ‘o lugar indeciso’, Museu das Artes de Sintra, Portugal, 2016. Joana has been awarded prizes including The Sir Denis Mahon Award from the Royal Drawing School (2017). She has undertaken artistic residencies in the USA and Portugal and her work is held in numerous private collections. She currently lives and works in south east London.
Acrylic on paper, 30 x 21cm
Portugese-born artist Joana Galego’s images are informed by – in her words – ‘memories and feelings rather than actual events’. Firmly rooted in drawing, her paintings and works on paper are characterised by a vibrant palette and a visual language partly inspired by historical artists including Piero de la Francesca and Paul Gaugin.
Joana uses layering and changes of perspective to create multiple narratives within her compositions, which range from intimate to grand in scale. Figures – both adult and childlike – are seen hiding, embracing, resting and playing together in a range of dreamlike scenarios. However, a sense of stillness prevails, despite the activities of the artist’s subjects.
In this unframed painting on paper, the artist’s young subject is seen in deep concentration; it is only the pictures title which tells the viewer what she is studying as it is hidden from sight. The brushes in the foreground, however, suggest artistic activities; areas of negative space on the paper create flashes of light evocative of a sudden flashback. Joana says; ‘Memories of small moments become opportunities to reflect on what it means to be a daughter, a child amongst the adults, a girl, a woman.
Joana graduated from the University of Lisbon in 2016 and subsequently moved to London to attend the Royal Drawing School between 2016 and 2017. Her work has been exhibited in numerous group shows in London and Portugal including the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize for which she was shortlisted in 2019. Solo exhibitions include ‘Spring and All’ at the Royal Drawing School, London, in 2019, and ‘o lugar indeciso’, Museu das Artes de Sintra, Portugal, 2016. Joana has been awarded prizes including The Sir Denis Mahon Award from the Royal Drawing School (2017). She has undertaken artistic residencies in the USA and Portugal and her work is held in numerous private collections. She currently lives and works in south east London.
Acrylic on paper, 30 x 21cm
Portugese-born artist Joana Galego’s images are informed by – in her words – ‘memories and feelings rather than actual events’. Firmly rooted in drawing, her paintings and works on paper are characterised by a vibrant palette and a visual language partly inspired by historical artists including Piero de la Francesca and Paul Gaugin.
Joana uses layering and changes of perspective to create multiple narratives within her compositions, which range from intimate to grand in scale. Figures – both adult and childlike – are seen hiding, embracing, resting and playing together in a range of dreamlike scenarios. However, a sense of stillness prevails, despite the activities of the artist’s subjects.
In this unframed painting on paper, the artist’s young subject is seen in deep concentration; it is only the pictures title which tells the viewer what she is studying as it is hidden from sight. The brushes in the foreground, however, suggest artistic activities; areas of negative space on the paper create flashes of light evocative of a sudden flashback. Joana says; ‘Memories of small moments become opportunities to reflect on what it means to be a daughter, a child amongst the adults, a girl, a woman.
Joana graduated from the University of Lisbon in 2016 and subsequently moved to London to attend the Royal Drawing School between 2016 and 2017. Her work has been exhibited in numerous group shows in London and Portugal including the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize for which she was shortlisted in 2019. Solo exhibitions include ‘Spring and All’ at the Royal Drawing School, London, in 2019, and ‘o lugar indeciso’, Museu das Artes de Sintra, Portugal, 2016. Joana has been awarded prizes including The Sir Denis Mahon Award from the Royal Drawing School (2017). She has undertaken artistic residencies in the USA and Portugal and her work is held in numerous private collections. She currently lives and works in south east London.
