Elephant’s Pick of the Artists Making a Mark in April

Whether zooming in claustrophobically close to a subject’s eyes and nose, or depicting moody bar scenes, Shaqúelle Whyte loads his paintings with emotion. Every facial crease and shadow is maximised to capture a range of feelings, and dark inky tones are used across curls of hair, shadow and clothing. “The physicality of paint is very important when approaching my work,” he says. “The differentiation between the thickness of paint, the inherent texture that comes from it, allows me to further push what it is that I can do.”  

 

Still only 20 years old, Whyte is already in his third year at the Slade in London, having been offered a place without taking an art foundation. His sumptuous paintings have won him a scholarship with the Rome Art Program, and an exchange placement with The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York. He also founded the Modern Faces Collective with a group of fellow student artists. Working with London’s Fynn Studio, the collective is opening an exhibition, Together, at the Square Gallery in Battersea on 17 April. “What is most striking of this group of young creatives is their passionate, focused confidence that has brought them together during what is an incredibly tough time for students,” says Fynn Studio curator Kobi Prempeh. (Emily Steer)