Working across drawing, painting and sculpture, Kate Lyddon (b. 1979) creates scenes of bodily absurdity and dark humour. A cast of characters, sometimes cartoon-like and often grotesque, enact a variety of nonsensical actions and poses. The production of each work involves embarking on a journey into the unknown, with Lyddon feeling her way at every step. Combining a variety of mark-making and collage techniques, Lyddon’s pencil drawings, detailed etchings, human size sculptures, and expansive canvases result in a range of scales. Resisting stability or repetition, Lyddon’s formal experimentation allows chance and serendipity to play an active role in determining the direction her imagery grows.

Lyddon’s approach acknowledges and draws on the messy nature of ‘real life’, which seeps into the enclosed worlds she creates, without ever threatening to undercut their otherworldly strangeness. Rather than communicating a central narrative, she instead proffers images that emerge intuitively from her imagination. Their fascination resides in the way that they convey latent meaning which ranges from the general to the specific, the ugly to the beautiful, and from the age-old to the contemporary.

Born in 1979, lives and works in London.

EDUCATION

2006, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, MA Fine Art

2003 – 2005, Artist's Project/Postgraduate Diploma, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Stockholm

1998 – 2001, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, BA Fine Art

SOLO / DUO SHOWS

2019, Throbwerk, duo with Angela Maasalu, Tallinn Kunsthalle, Tallinn, Estonia

2019, Primeval, duo with John Summers, studio1.1, London

2017, The Big Toe, Galerie d'YS, Brussels

2016, On Drool, Cabin Gallery, London

2015, Zabludowicz Collection Invites: Kate Lyddon, Zabludowicz Collection, London

2015, Kate Lyddon - The Mark Tanner Sculpture Award 2014-15, Standpoint Gallery, London

2015, Smaller Biscuit Of Life (Sad Autobiography with Happy Appendix), Galerie d'YS, Brussels

2012, If You Should Die Unexpectedly, studio1.1, London

2012, Idolizer, Galerie d'YS, Brussels

2011, Heroes and Villains, Gallery Daniela Da Prato, Paris

2011, Bread and Circuses, Galerie Charlot, Paris

2010, The Amazing Wall of Death, Galleri Villavägen 7, Uppsala

2010, The Feeling, Galleri Remi, Östersund

2010, The Letter, Galerie d'YS, Brussels

2009, Happiness, Galerie Davide Di Maggio, Milan

2009, The Routine, Galleri Persson, Malmö

2009, Kate Lyddon, studio 1.1, London

2009, Kate Lyddon, Galleri Anders Lundmark, Stockholm

2008, Love At The Lido, Fold Gallery, London

2008, Here's To You, Michelle And John, Contemporary Art Space, Bristol

2007, Kate Lyddon, Galleri Anders Lundmark, Stockholm

2007, Lennart Aschenbrenner and Kate Lyddon, Skellefteå Konsthall, Skellefteå (duo)

2007, Anders Engman and Kate Lyddon, Teaterhotellet Galleri, Malmö (duo)

2006, Kate Lyddon, Galleri Anders Lundmark, Stockholm

2005, Untitled - Kate Lyddon, Galleri Mejan, Stockholm

2004, Eugene's Party, Galleri Mejan, Stockholm

GROUP SHOWS

2022, Salt ‘n Paper, Galerie DYS, Brussels

2021, The Stand-Ins, Zabludowicz Collection, London

2021, Drawn Out, The Drawing Room, London

2019, Drawing Biennale 2019, The Drawing Room, London

2017, Figure it Out, Tannery Projects, London, curated by Jacqui McIntosh and Marcus Cope

2017, Kate Lyddon and John Summers, studio1.1, Sluice Biennial, London

2017, Street Semiotics, Charlie Smith, London

2016, A Splinter in the Sun, Narrative Projects, London, curated by Tim Stoner

2016, The Talking Lamp, The Kennington Residency, London

2016, The Contemporary British Painting Prize, Richmond Museum and Huddersfield Museum, London

2015, The Future Can Wait 2015, Bermondsey Project Space, London

2015, Distorted Visions, The Dot Project, London

2015, East London Painting Prize 2015, Shortlist Exhibition, The Rum Factory, London

2015, Anti-Social Realism, Charlie Smith, London

2014, Jerwood Encounters: Suspicion, Jerwood Space, London, curated by Dan Coombs

2014, Chinese Whispers, Karin Janssen Project Space, London / Gallery Nasty Alice, Eindhoeven

2014, Go Figure, curated by Roxie Warder, Cob Gallery, London

2014, Non-Sequitur, Beers Contemporary, London

2014, Masques / Masks, touring show, Transition Gallery, London

2013, Masques / Masks, touring show, Galerie d'YS, Brussels

2013, Mingles Calypsus: Mungles Capitaltis, Neue Froth Kunsthalle, Brighton

2013, Kate Lyddon and Jay Cloth, two person show, studio1.1, London

2013, The Opinion Makers, collaborative work with Maria Bajt, curated by Lubomirov-Easton at Enclave Gallery, London

2013, Speak, Clown!, curated by Hotel Swirly-Whirly, Fold Gallery, London

2013, HARTMANN. HELYER. LYDDON. BONILLA. & BAJT., Charlie Dutton Gallery, London

2013, '****' Part 3, curated by Hotel Swirly-Whirly, Neue Froth Kunsthalle, Brighton

2013, a house of many windows, curated by Day&Gluckman, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London

2012, Post-War and Contemporary Art 1990 - Now, Christies, London

2012, detours, Wimbledon Space, London

2012, Degrading, curated by Herzog Dellafiore/studio1.4, hosted by studio1.1, London

2012, The Saatchi Gallery [offsite]: One Giant Leap, Hyatt Regency, London

2012,Translation-Change-Mutation: Susak EXPO(rt), studio 1.4, MUSEUM of MALI LOŠINJ, Mali Losinj, Croatia

2012, Untitled, studio 1.4, Art and Trade/Papierfabriken, Graz, and ExterrItorial, Vienna

2011, Face to Face, Transition Gallery, London

2011, The Edge of Luxury: Form and Actuality, Fold Gallery, London

2011, The Marmite Prize for Painting 2010, (Touring) Central Art Gallery, Tameside; Lanchester Gallery Projects, Coventry; The Nunnery, London

2010, No Soul for Sale; A Festival of Independants, studio 1.1, Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London

2010, Painting Over, studio 1.1, London

2010, Pack of Fifteen, Lucky Strike, London

2009, Close To Home, Galerie Davide Di Maggio, Milan

2009, Such Sweethearts, Studio 1.1, London

2009, With or Without God, L-13 Light Industrial Workshop, London

2008, The Damned and the Saved, Standpoint Gallery, London

2008, The Marmite Prize for Painting 2008, Studio 1.1, London

2008, Besame Mucho Mas, Reception Space, Chats Palace, London

2007, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, Melange Social Club, London

2006, The Marmite Prize for Painting 2006, Residence Gallery, London

2006, For Peel, No More Grey Gallery, London

2006, Through the Large Glass, Three Colts Gallery, London

RESIDENCIES

2011-12, Ceramic Department, Camberwell College of Art, London

2001-2003, Department of Fine Art, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury

AWARDS

2015, The Mark Tanner Sculpture Award 2014-15, selected by Penelope Curtis; Conrad Shawcross RA; Iain Hales; Rebecca Scott; Standpoint Gallery, London

2011, Emerging Artist Award 2011, for solo presentation with Galerie d'YS, Art on Paper, Brussels

2006, Runner Up, The Marmite Prize for Painting 2006, London