White Room: Will Sheldon

September 9–October 21, 2017
Three large scale works on adjacent walls. From left to right, MOTHER’S NEST, FISH CAVE, and PIG CAVE. All are sculptural painted drawings that incorporate natural, psychedelic and slightly morbid imagery.

Will Sheldon, installation view, 2017

Three large scale works on adjacent walls: MOTHER’S NEST and FISH CAVE are installed to the right, while SPIDER CAVE is on the left.

Will Sheldon, installation view, 2017

MOTHER’S NEST, 2017 and FISH CAVE, 2017 installed side by side on a wall. FISH CAVE depicts a dark cave framed by skulls painted in shades of light purple and pink.

Will Sheldon, installation view, 2017

A large work depicting a figure wearing a hat whose legs and right arm seem to have been cut off. To the left sits a sideways jack-o-lantern in the shape of a cylinder.

Will Sheldon

MOTHER’S NEST, 2017

Ink, acrylic, thread, oil, canvas and cotton batting

57.5 × 63.5 inches

A large work depicting a scene filled with flowers, foliage, floating skulls and hearts. A purple fairy-like humanoid figure is depicted to the left, and to the right a faceless, barefoot figure dressed in green sits on a mushroom.

Will Sheldon

SKULL GARDEN, 2017

Ink, acrylic, thread, dental floss and canvas

61 × 78.5 inches

A large, psychedelic work depicting a natural scene filled with plants, foliage, animals and bugs. Part of the scene appears to take place underwater.

Will Sheldon

SPIDER CAVE, 2017

Ink, acrylic, thread, dental floss, canvas, cotton batting and beads

54 × 56 inches

Press Release

White Columns is pleased to present a solo exhibition by the New York-based artist Will Sheldon. Sheldon’s exhibition comprises of a series of five large-scale, shaped and stitched canvas works that both build upon and amplify his increasingly expanding approach to drawing, one that unashamedly embraces the dynamics of craft and illustration, as well as the emotional and psychological impulses associated with childhood and adolescence. Sheldon’s hybrid painting-drawings suggest a hallucinatory, dream-like space, with the works functioning as thresholds or ‘portals’ into the realm of the imagination. About Sheldon’s “wild and compassionate vision”, the writer Reba Maybury has observed that: “Sheldon’s world addresses some of the globe’s most intimate and arousing subjects then disrupts them without aggression, but instead with a fantastical eccentricity that allows everyone in.”

Will Sheldon lives and works in New York. He received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2013. His work was previously the subject of a solo exhibition at Cleopatra’s, Brooklyn (2017), and he is currently included in the group show ‘Prick Up Your Ears’ at Karma International (Los Angeles).

For further information about this exhibition contact: info@whitecolumns.org

Checklist

Event

Four people wearing bright pastel clothing lounge on the floor, intermingling with each other. Some wear knee high silk socks and shoes with floral designs.
A person wearing an embroidered yellow sleeveless top and teal silk trousers speaks into a microphone.
A person wearing a sheer blue long sleeved blouse with floral designs, a short mint colored skirt, knee-high orange silk socks and brown shoes lies on the floor while having a conversation.
A person seated on the floor wearing a white hat with a large rim, a long frilly yellow dress, purple knee-high socks and blue high-heeled shoes. Their hat and shoes are detailed with ruffles.
A person wearing a sheer blue top. Their hair is done in an elaborate braid with a light purple ribbon. Beside them, another person with hair done in a similar style is partially visible.
Four people seated on the floor and one person standing to the right. There is a small pile of shoes on the floor. All wear bright pastel clothing.
A person in a blue sleeveless dress poses in between two of Will Sheldon’s works.
Two people lying on the floor. The person to the right in the blue dress reaches over the other person for something.
Two people seated on the floor. One of them looks at the camera while the other adjusts their shoe.
One person speaks or sings into a microphone with their back turned. Beside them, another person performs at a keyboard.

Sod Walker Tomorrow, event view, 2017 (Four people wearing bright pastel clothing lounge on the floor, intermingling with each other. Some wear knee high silk socks and shoes with floral designs.)

Sod Walker Tomorrow, event view, 2017 (A person wearing an embroidered yellow sleeveless top and teal silk trousers speaks into a microphone.)

Sod Walker Tomorrow, event view, 2017 (A person wearing a sheer blue long sleeved blouse with floral designs, a short mint colored skirt, knee-high orange silk socks and brown shoes lies on the floor while having a conversation.)

Sod Walker Tomorrow, event view, 2017 (A person seated on the floor wearing a white hat with a large rim, a long frilly yellow dress, purple knee-high socks and blue high-heeled shoes. Their hat and shoes are detailed with ruffles.)

Sod Walker Tomorrow, event view, 2017 (A person wearing a sheer blue top. Their hair is done in an elaborate braid with a light purple ribbon. Beside them, another person with hair done in a similar style is partially visible.)

Sod Walker Tomorrow, event view, 2017 (Four people seated on the floor and one person standing to the right. There is a small pile of shoes on the floor. All wear bright pastel clothing.)

Sod Walker Tomorrow, event view, 2017 (A person in a blue sleeveless dress poses in between two of Will Sheldon’s works.)

Sod Walker Tomorrow, event view, 2017 (Two people lying on the floor. The person to the right in the blue dress reaches over the other person for something.)

Sod Walker Tomorrow, event view, 2017 (Two people seated on the floor. One of them looks at the camera while the other adjusts their shoe.)

Sod Walker Tomorrow, event view, 2017 (One person speaks or sings into a microphone with their back turned. Beside them, another person performs at a keyboard.)

‘Sod Walker Tomorrow’

Sod Walker SS18 presentation organized by Raffaella Hanley and Will Sheldon, directed by Emma McMillan.

Photography by Olimpia Dior

October 17, 2017

Related Press

Publication

The W.C. #55 Sod Walker by Raffaella Hanley and Will Sheldon
2017

Drawings by Will Sheldon; Collaging by Raffaella Hanley; Photography by Bogdan Teslar Kwiatkowski; Make-up by Allie Smith. Featuring Emma McMillan and Raffaella Hanley wearing Lou Dallas S/S 18 Sod Walker.

26 pages.

Published in an unspecified edition on the occassion of the exhibition ‘Will Sheldon: Looking for Blueberries in a house painted brown’, September 9–October 21, 2017.

PURCHASE HERE

Three large scale works on adjacent walls. From left to right, MOTHER’S NEST, FISH CAVE, and PIG CAVE. All are sculptural painted drawings that incorporate natural, psychedelic and slightly morbid imagery.
Three large scale works on adjacent walls: MOTHER’S NEST and FISH CAVE are installed to the right, while SPIDER CAVE is on the left.
MOTHER’S NEST, 2017 and FISH CAVE, 2017 installed side by side on a wall. FISH CAVE depicts a dark cave framed by skulls painted in shades of light purple and pink.
A large work depicting a figure wearing a hat whose legs and right arm seem to have been cut off. To the left sits a sideways jack-o-lantern in the shape of a cylinder.
A large work depicting a scene filled with flowers, foliage, floating skulls and hearts. A purple fairy-like humanoid figure is depicted to the left, and to the right a faceless, barefoot figure dressed in green sits on a mushroom.
A large, psychedelic work depicting a natural scene filled with plants, foliage, animals and bugs. Part of the scene appears to take place underwater.

Will Sheldon, installation view, 2017 (Three large scale works on adjacent walls. From left to right, MOTHER’S NEST, FISH CAVE, and PIG CAVE. All are sculptural painted drawings that incorporate natural, psychedelic and slightly morbid imagery.)

Will Sheldon, installation view, 2017 (Three large scale works on adjacent walls: MOTHER’S NEST and FISH CAVE are installed to the right, while SPIDER CAVE is on the left.)

Will Sheldon, installation view, 2017 (MOTHER’S NEST, 2017 and FISH CAVE, 2017 installed side by side on a wall. FISH CAVE depicts a dark cave framed by skulls painted in shades of light purple and pink.)

Will Sheldon MOTHER’S NEST, 2017 Ink, acrylic, thread, oil, canvas and cotton batting 57.5 × 63.5 inches (A large work depicting a figure wearing a hat whose legs and right arm seem to have been cut off. To the left sits a sideways jack-o-lantern in the shape of a cylinder.)

Will Sheldon SKULL GARDEN, 2017 Ink, acrylic, thread, dental floss and canvas 61 × 78.5 inches (A large work depicting a scene filled with flowers, foliage, floating skulls and hearts. A purple fairy-like humanoid figure is depicted to the left, and to the right a faceless, barefoot figure dressed in green sits on a mushroom.)

Will Sheldon SPIDER CAVE, 2017 Ink, acrylic, thread, dental floss, canvas, cotton batting and beads 54 × 56 inches (A large, psychedelic work depicting a natural scene filled with plants, foliage, animals and bugs. Part of the scene appears to take place underwater.)