Info
Zoë Carlon's paintings reveal episodic scenes depicting transitory spaces; a library, smoking area, a shopping centre display, and inwards towards the domestic; glimpses through residential windows, empty cafes, an interior still life. Motivated by her enduring curiosity into how our attention is divided and the rare conditions that permit total solitude, her paintings compel the viewer to engage with the introspective nature of private observation.
'The images, vague and cropped close, are somewhat recognisable, but not specific enough to pin down. The lack of context creates an opportunity for each work to interact and correspond to one another. Carlon uses a muted palette and eludes concrete signifiers, suspending her subjects at a crossing of the known and unknown; they are in-between entities, forming relationships based on their liminality.' - Layla Khazeni for Era Journal issue 19.
Zoë’s process is deeply influenced by the unique qualities of her chosen surface of aluminium. The solidity and resistance of the surface plays a crucial role in the application and build up of oil paint, allowing her brushstrokes to maintain their distinct texture as the layers accumulate over many months. In this way, her slow, considered process emphasises both the physicality of the materials and the gradual evolution of each painting.
Based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK.
Represented by South Parade
Exhibitions
2025
Solo Independent New York - presented by South Parade, NY, USA
2024
Solo Where and When You Are, South Parade, London, UK (Accompanying text)
The Good Intent, Guest Gallery, Brooklyn, New York City, USA. With Phillip Allen, Ryan Kish, Dido Hallett, Joshua Armitage, Anne Ryan, Mark Jackson
Around the edges: recent work on paper. South Parade, London, UK
2023
Solo Feria Material, Vol. 9 - presented by South Parade, Mexico City, MX
Moving in - Super Super Markt, Berlin, DE. With Karla Black, Tatjana Danneberg, Karlo Kacharava, Nika Kutateladze, Paloma Varga Weisz and Ian Waelder
What we make where - with Joshua Armitage, accompanying publication. Hyde Park Art Club, Leeds and AMP Gallery, London, UK
2022
Solo Strange Comfort - South Parade, London, UK
Material Poetics - South Parade x The Shop at Sadie Coles HQ, London, UK
This must be the place - The Art House x The Ridings, Wakefield, UK
CHRONICLES 5 - Galerie Droste, Berlin, DE
Collected - 36 Limestreet, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Wish Lush, curated by Elaine Tam and Arthur Gouillart - Kravitz Contemporary, J/M Gallery, London, UK
Tetley Associate Artist Studio Showcase - The Tetley, Leeds, UK
2021
Dialogues No.01 - Centre for Recent Drawing, London, UK
Parts - In collaboration with Hannah Whitfield, Artwalk, Wakefield, UK
Painters Showing Paintings - In collaboration with Sofia Hallström, online
From Cellar to Garret - South Parade, London, UK
2020
3rdWAVE - The Collective Studio, The NewBridge Project, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Prosaic: Generous - Globe Arts Studio, Slaithwaite, UK
2019
Club Editions - Index Festival, Leeds, UK
Cole’s Gallery, Leeds, UK
2018
Solo The Near and Elsewhere - Calver Gallery, South Square Centre, Bradford, UK
Solo Paintings and Drawings - Emmaus Rooms, St Helen’s Church, Wakefield, UK
The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition - London, UK
Publications
Photographs 2020 - 2023 - 16pp full colour Zine with an introduction by Lucy Rose Cunningham, 2024. Available via South Parade
Prizes, Commissions, Residencies, Teaching
2025 Guest Lecturer - Kingston School of Art, London, UK
2024 Xenia Creative Retreat Residency - Hampshire, UK
2022 - 2024 Visiting Artist Lecturer - School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, The University of Leeds
2021 - 2022 Tetley Associate Artist - The Tetley, Leeds
2021 Artwalk Commission - Artwalk, Wakefield
2020 - 2021 Member of The Collective Studio - The NewBridge Project, Newcastle upon Tyne
2018 - 2019 The Art House Micro-Commissions Programme - The Art House, Wakefield
2018 Club: Making Matters Commission - Yorkshire Sculpture International
2018 International Residency Programme - Art Quarter Budapest, Hungary
2018 The Royal Drawing School Residency - Dumfries House, Scotland
2017 First Prize, FUAM Graduate Art Prize - The Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, Leeds
2017 - 2019 Founding member of Club
Press
Independent Art Fair - Lisa Yin Zhang for Hyperallergic, 2025
Ecotones in Zoë Carlon's Where and When You Are - Layla Kahzeni for Era Journal Issue 19, 2024
Review: Where and When You Are - Gertrude Gibbons for Corridor 8, 2024
Xenia Creative Retreat: a landscape to facilitate creativity - Recessed Space, 2024
In the studio with Zoë Carlon - Emergent Magazine 2023
In Conversation with Curator Zoe Watson - The Tetley, Leeds 2022
Collections
Government Art Collection, UK
FUAM Collection, University of Leeds, UK
X Museum, Beijing, China
International private collections
Education
BA (Hons) Fine Art, University of Leeds, 2013 - 2017
Magyar Képzőművészeti Egyetem (Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts) Budapest, Hungary, 2015 - 2016