Jonathan Wateridge’s paintings are infused with atmospheric suspense. In this new body of work, figures dissolve into dream-like spaces, where distant interiors unfold alongside tempestuous land and seascapes that echo the arrangements of classical painting. Imbued with mythic overtones, these new paintings draw on the concept of Peripeteia — the sudden reversal of fortune in Greek theatre —capturing moments of suspension and transition, and framing them as inflection points where tension, uncertainty and latent tragedy quietly accumulate. Tracing notions of cyclical and repeated fate, Wateridge’s figures assimilate into their environments, appearing translucent or, at times, atomised, evoking a growing sense of unease. Erased moments operate as apertures of attention rather than revelation: sites where looking is slowed and deferred. Within these elusive spaces, Wateridge’s figures remain suspended in anticipation. As if stencilled from a dream, these fragmentary compositions invite us to ruminate on moments that hang delicately, if not fatefully, in the balance.

About the artist

Jonathan Wateridge (b. 1972, Lusaka, ZM) lives and works in Norfolk (UK). His work is the subject of two comprehensive monographs Uncertain Swimmer (2023) and Enclave / Expatria (2019) published by Anomie.

Selected exhibitions: No Longer, Not Yet – Paintings on Paper, GRIMM Amsterdam, (NL); Works on Paper, Nino Mier Gallery, New York, NY (US); Vanishing Point, GRIMM, London (UK); A Room Hung With Thoughts: British Painting Now, Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, Texas (US); Summer, Frestonian Gallery, London (UK); Afterparty, Nino Mier Gallery, New York, NY (US); Inland Water, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (US); 51@51, The Rennie Museum, Vancouver (CA); This Side of Paradise, TJ Boulting, London (UK); So British! 10 Masterpieces from the Pinault Collection, Esplanade Fine Art Museum Marcel Duchamp, Rouen (FR) and Swimmer, Galerie Haas, Zurich (CH).

Selected collections include Aïshti Foundation, Jal el Dib (LB); AkzoNobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL); Didier Casimiro, Kiev (UA); Loed Evans, London (UK); Mollie Dent Brocklehurst, London (UK); Pinault Collection, Paris (FR) and Venice (IT); Rennie Collection, Vancouver (CA); Saatchi Collection, London (UK); Simmons & Simmons, London (UK).