A major solo exhibition celebrating the work of the painter Rose Wylie is showing at both Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange this summer.

Rose Wylie is best known for creating colourful, large-scale, figurative paintings that are intelligent, funny, and quietly political. These are usually made from memory and draw on a wide range of cultural references from history, fashion and cinema, to mythology, sport and literature. The large-scale paintings exhibited at Newlyn Art Gallery include three recent works inspired by the Pilgrims’ voyage aboard the Mayflower, which allegedly had a final landing at Newlyn to take on fresh water before sailing to America in 1620. In the lower gallery there is Ben Rivers’ film What Means Something (2015) which reflects on his friendship with Rose Wylie. At The Exchange, paintings inspired by celebrities and Quentin Tarantino films hang alongside more personal memories including Wylie’s experience of the Blitz during the Second World War.

In 2014, she won the John Moores Painting Prize, and in 2015 she was elected a Senior Royal Academician. In June 2018 she was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

The exhibitions are running until mid September and entry is free.