Independent: Zoë Carlon

5—8 May 2025

Spring Studios
50 Varick Street
New York, NY 10013

Fair Hours
Thursday, May 8: 11AM – 8PM (By Invitation)
Friday, May 9: 11AM – 7PM
Saturday, May 10: 11AM – 7PM
Sunday, May 11: 11AM – 6PM 

South Parade is pleased to present a solo presentation of new paintings by British artist, Zoë Carlon. This is her first solo presentation in New York.

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 spaces are presented outside of context; it is unclear where exactly they are, the time of day, and their relationship to each other. Always in flux, the viewer traversing across and through them, titles Arrangement, Garden Flowers and Doorway, Beginning of Spring referencing this. In Window Seats, the viewer's position remains ambiguous - inside or outside, entering or passing through - while the cropped perspective reinforces the notion of being in-between.

This sensorial aspect continues through the utilisation of a vibrant colour palette, from the deep magenta seating in Library - its sumptuousness drawing you in to sit - to the artificial light within Shopping Centre Display. Each painting emanates liveliness, shifting the encounter to a new perspective of an otherwise familiar scene, an attention formed. 

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.

-

Zoë Carlon (b. 1993, Wakefield, UK) lives and works in Wakefield, Yorkshire, UK, and studied at the University of Leeds, UK (2013 - 2017) and the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary (2015 - 2016). 

Recent solo exhibitions / presentations include Where and When You Are, South Parade (London, 2024), Feria Material, Vol. 9 (Mexico City, 2023) and Strange Comfort, South Parade (London, 2021-22). Recent selected group shows include The Good Intent, Guest Gallery (New York, 2024), Moving In, Super Super Markt (Berlin, 2023), What we make where, Hyde Park Art Club (Leeds, 2023), Material Poetics, South Parade x The Shop at Sadie Coles HQ (London, 2022), CHRONICLES 5, Galerie Droste x KPM Berlin (Berlin, 2022), Wish Lush (curated by Elaine Tam & Arthur Gouillart), Kravitz Contemporary x JM Gallery (London, 2022), Dialogues No1, Centre for Recent Drawing (London, 2021) and From Cellar to Garrett, South Parade (London 2021).

Zoë’s work can be found in the public collections of The Government Art Collection (London), The FUAM Collection (University of Leeds) and the X Museum (Beijing).