‘HELD’ by Catherine Repko & Lucy Whitehead
Open Daily | 10am-8pm
12th - 18th April 2021
RSVP hello@blueshopcottage.com

We are thrilled to announce the joint show between two of our favourite artists Catherine Repko and Lucy Whitehead. They were both stars of the original Works On Paper show and we are over the moon to be showing both their work. Not only do they share a studio in South London together but they are also great friends.

‘Held’ brings together the works of artists Catherine Repko and Lucy Whitehead. The two artists met on the MA Painting programme at The Royal College of Art in 2019, where they were placed in a shared studio together for their first year. Having become close friends and colleagues in their practice, they now share a studio together in Brixton. Through their time together in the studio, the artists have found certain themes run through the work of both artists - a shared interest in the exploration of the female, of the physical body and the space inhabited by it, a sense of displacement. These weights are expressed within their works, but they are held in a search to find light, of holding these weights in the work, and of finding something of a joy amongst all of it. Of sharing together. 

CATHERINE REPKO b.1990

The third of four sisters, Catherine’s current practice explores this relationship. She is interested in the space between them, their relationship growing up together and what connects them now as adults; how they support each other and what these female relationships mean to the artist as a woman now - both specifically with these three women, but also thinking about our relationships more broadly. Her work takes an intimate look at sisterhood but also arises contemplations surrounding identity, of being daughters, about motherhood, our humanity – at a time that feels so increasingly polarised both socially and politically, Catherine’s work is looking at what unites and ties us together. 

This year, the studio became filled with cheap print-outs of pixelated faces of my three sisters, faces from different angles, photographs of us together, now as women: embracing, hands held, fingers intertwined - a deep connection, empathy, love and history. Thinking about the space between us now, as adults, how we support each other and what these female relationships mean to me as a woman now, I began painting. Four women. 

Catherine is in her final year of the MA Painting programme at Royal College of Art. Repko is a recipient of The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, 2020 Grantee, and the Arts Council England, Triangle Network Fellowship, 2016. 

LUCY WHITEHEAD b.1991

C. Lucy R. Whitehead’s paintings explore our increasingly fragile relationship with the physical. Both in the sense of the awareness we have with our own bodies and with the spaces they inhabit. Explored through varying degrees of abstraction, from fragmented structures of flesh like forms to translucent silhouettes of the human figure, which sink into and mould around the boundaries of the canvas. She tends to work on one painting at a time, working by a process of both intuition and design. In doing so, she states that each work is indicative (albeit in hindsight) of her own fluctuating relationship to the body and space at the time of making. 

Every one of her paintings begins with gestural marks forged in charcoal from memories of the human figure, be it hers or another’s. Drawing is the common thread which runs throughout her entire practice. Both in the planning of the work and in the resolved image. Its immediacy and honesty provide the bridge needed between her subconscious and physical awareness, her mind and body. Through a continuous process of constructing and deconstructing of layers, this constellation of marks flow through form and space, blurring the line between interior and exterior. 

Lucy is in her final year of the MA Painting programme at Royal College of Art. She is a recipient of the Basil. H.  Alkazzi Scholarship 2019-2021.

To purchase or enquire about any work(s) please contact us directly on this email hello@blueshopcottage.com