Uniting the work of these two artists, Jonathan Waller and Ruth Calland, is a deep commitment to figurative painting, an openness of heart and a willingness to deal with difficult subject matter. They do this through a belief in the talismanic power of painting as a transformative process, which they find both necessary and helpful in negotiating life’s events, both personal and social.
Waller’s ‘Lockdown Portraits’ began during the Coronavirus pandemic and take Ancient Egyptian mummy portraits as a starting point, each of which went through many changes before arriving at their current form. What is distilled emotionally is the insistence of the outward gaze, as if the dead are reaching out to us and demanding to be recognised and remembered. This is particularly poignant in relation to our collective experience of seeing portraits of the dead shown on the tv news alongside loved ones - who were prevented from going through a natural process of mourning or holding a proper funeral.
Calland’s recent paintings also have their origin in the Covid period, when they discovered Tiktok as a tool to research trans creators as part of their exploration of their own non-binary identity. This led to the Pin-Ups series, celebrating trans people and the value of being in alignment with our true nature. For some this includes a re-vision of the body, which Calland presents as a hopeful and creative act, in the context of global assaults on trans rights, ecological systems, and marginalised groups of all kinds. These works celebrate self-determination, resilience, and the beauty of nature's infinite diversity.
The imposed hierarchies of the unjust and the need to resist them, are described in the Strangler’s melancholic song Always the Sun, from which the show takes its title. The sun which rises and sets each day is a constant, bringing relief and warmth, and even in times of hardship, the promise of renewal.
Pictorem Gallery, 383 Hoe St, Walthamstow, London E17 9AP
Private view: Friday 6 March, 6pm-9pm
Exhibition dates: 4 March - Saturday 28 March 20026
Opening times: Tuesday - Saturday 10am - 5pm • Admission free
