Zoë Carlon

Feria Material, Vol. 9, Mexico City

9 - 12 February 2023

Zoë Carlon (b. 1993, Wakefield, UK) lives and works in Wakefield, Yorkshire, UK.

Zoë Carlon’s paintings on aluminium depict spaces that are simultaneously public and private. Selected subjects, including unoccupied interiors, views through windows and peripheries of the maintained natural world, are developed from images taken of both her immediate environment and unfamiliar transitory spaces. Compositions are formed of thresholds that create a boundary between interior and exterior and awkward impossibilities are formulated within the scenes through the use of manipulated perspectives and an invented palette. These devices contribute to a lack of resolution and dislocation for the viewer; it is not always immediately clear where they find themselves. There is an interest in our capacity for active attention, and experience of solitude, in relation to the rate at which public and private domains are increasingly blurred.

Her eye is most active when travelling alone, peering through the window of a train, or at an empty cafe after closing time. Each documentation, many from her surrounding neighbourhood in Wakefield, is distinct enough to set a scene. Her brushes reinterpret the rest...Her fixation for sights emptied of all human presence is perhaps spurred on by her devotion for reading Virginia Woolf’s accounts, in her cult novel ‘To the Lighthouse’, where she preaches the need for isolation if we are to function entirely. Ted Targett, Independent Curator

Zoë Carlon (b. 1993, Wakefield, UK) lives and works in Wakefield and studied at the University of Leeds (2013 - 2017) and Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (Budapest). Recent solo exhibitions include Strange Comfort, South Parade (London, 2021-22). Recent selected group shows include This must be the place, The Art House, Wakefield, UK, CHRONICLES 5, Galerie Droste x KPM Berlin, Berlin, Germany, Wish Lush, Kravitz Contemporary x JM Gallery (curated by Elaine Tam & Arthur Gouillart), London, UK, Collected, 36 Limestreet, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, Studio Showcase, The Tetley, Leeds, UK, Dialogues No1, Centre for Recent Drawing (London 2021) and From Cellar to Garrett, South Parade (London 2021).