Joe Hesketh

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Joe Hesketh is a British painter known for her transgressive abstract paintings which expose our inner demons.
Joe’s subversive approach has been compared to Francis Bacon, Paula Reago and Willem de Kooning in style and quality.
Joe is intrigued by the grotesque and the supernatural. In an interview with The Independent, Joe called herself a modern day witch.

Joe Hesketh is an avant-garde British painter known for her semi abstract paintings which interpret life as a young woman in 21st century Britain. Her ominous portraits veer between humour and tragedy, resulting in a disconcerting and yet entirely unique visual duality. Themes of transgression and the grotesque pervade her work.

Joe Hesketh’s Early Career

With the support of the British Arts Council, Joe shot to artistic fame when she embarked on a series of paintings commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Pendle Witch Trials in Lancashire, where the artist is based. Following this, her A Pendle Investigation exhibition at The Newman St Gallery, London, was a critical success, as well as her series depicting the life and works of American confessional poet Sylvia Plath.

Style and Approach

Her paintings often feature herself in unflattering and self-critical ways. While on the one hand, there is an undertone of self-doubt and vulnerability, the brazen way in which Joe confronts her inner demons is both subversive and admirable. Joe works with fiercely blended colours, heavy layering and deformed, eerie figures which gaze out from her canvas. For example, in Baby Wipes and Rubber Ring, both oil on canvas, there’s something deceptively uncanny about the jester-like subjects; it’s not clear whether you’re observing them or whether they’re observing you.

Press

Joe has been featured in national publications such as The Guardian and The Independent for her provocative oeuvre.

Selected Works

You Or Me by Joe Hesketh

You Or Me

Paintings - 120x120 cm
MAN by Joe Hesketh

MAN

Paintings - 100x75 cm
Baby Wipes by Joe Hesketh

Baby Wipes

160x126 cm
Facebook by Joe Hesketh

Facebook

130x100 cm
Butter Fingers by Joe Hesketh

Butter Fingers

Paintings - 130x121 cm
Fit by Joe Hesketh

Fit

134x94 cm
Nursey by Joe Hesketh

Nursey

Paintings - 250x134 cm
You Piss On It by Joe Hesketh

You Piss On It

Paintings - 122x122 cm
Dummy by Joe Hesketh

Dummy

Paintings - 122x122 cm
Getting There by Joe Hesketh

Getting There

122x122 cm

Phobia

Paintings - 150x97 cm

Dear John

Paintings - 175x135 cm

Mother Fucker

Paintings - 211x112 cm

The Inevitable

Paintings - 128x96 cm

Rubber Ring

Paintings - 104x104 cm

Synonymous

Paintings - 152x161 cm

Blackbird

Paintings - 129x101 cm

Black Tree

Paintings - 211x112 cm

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