Visiting Artist's Talk - Joe Cheetham

Joe Cheetham studied Fine Art at the University of Leeds before undertaking an MFA in Contemporary Art Practice at Edinburgh College of Art.

Torn between the interior and exterior feelings of selfhood, Cheetham’s work explores the contradictions of self-expression through paintings that create an often uncomfortable emotional field, one in which sincere confessions of love and loneliness mingle with erotic fantasies and crude innuendo. The push-and-pull between problems and solutions, as well as notions of impoliteness and unsightliness, signalled by the removal of graffiti and its re-spraying, are consistent themes in his practice. Cheetham runs Suede Gallery, Edinburgh, and his recent exhibitions include: ‘No Bad Wednesdays’ at Voidoid Gallery (Glasgow, 2016), ‘Interim’ at Talbot Rice Gallery (Edinburgh, 2016) and ‘Welcome to Suede’ at Suede Gallery (Edinburgh, 2016).

The venue for this talk is Lecture Theatre 21, Roger Stevens Bulding, University of Leeds. Directions to the venue can be found online here.

The VAT series hosts talks by an exciting range of arts practitioners from around the world every Monday afternoon 14:00 to 15:30 during teaching weeks.

All of our talks are compulsory for all Fine Art students but open to anyone else who would like to join us.

Image: Joe Cheetham, Bliss, 2016. Acrylic spray on canvas, 160 x 247cm.