British painter Ella Walker is now represented by Pilar Corrias Gallery and will have her first exhibition with the tastemaking London gallery later this year. The painter is known for her large-format canvases that skillfully incorporate the dramatic flair of cinema, opera, ballet, and theater. Walker is also represented by New York–based gallery Casey Kaplan.
Born in 1993 in Manchester, England, Walker attended the Glasgow School of Art, where she studied painting and printmaking. Soon after, she enrolled in the Royal Drawing School in London, receiving her postgraduate degree in 2018. During this time, Walker honed her distinctive style and her process, which involves layering materials, such as chalk or tempera, to create textured surfaces reminiscent of medieval frescoes. This technique allows her to capture the movement and emotion of her theatrically staged figures.
“[Walker’s] paintings, layered with a complexity of themes and historical references, operate within the interstices of historical and contemporary visual cultures, creating a new painterly language in between,” gallery founder Pilar Corrias said in a statement.
In New York, Walker’s solo exhibition, “After great pain, a formal feeling comes,” is on view at Casey Kaplan through April 13th. This is the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery, following her 2022 show “Theater of Virtues and Vices.” Beyond her gallery presentations, Walker presented her first institutional solo exhibition, titled “Chorus,” at Kestner Gesellschaft in Hannover, Germany, in 2023.
