Joshua Raffell 

Joshua lives and works on the Isle of Wight.

He studied at Sir John Cass (BA Hons) and Chelsea School of Art (MA). He has exhibited work in the Acons Gallery (Ryde), Studio 1.1 (East London), Charlie Smith (East London) and Griffin Gallery (West London), Hackney Wicked, Circus (Brixton) and Laura Lee (Leytonstone).

In August 2022 he took a studio space in Monkton Arts where you can go and see his work. Josh works in the studio Tuesday and Thursday.

His work is inspired by Delaine La Bas, Louise Bourgeois, Tilleke Schwarz, Alice Kettle and Max Ernst, just to name a few.

The work takes ideas, images and headlines from current affairs, gay erotica and complex memory of the self. Pushing, pulling, cutting up, rubbing out and stitching layers together. The works push against the brain washed ideas and aspirations of conformity. Thus scraping the surface and exploring the underbelly of society and the self but never quite going there. The works goes from the self to a wider concept of otherness (Sue Golding, Eight Technologies of Otherness) This will allows the work to be accessible to a wider audience. While the phallus represents the absent father (Louise Bourgeios), the queer gaze and a cheeky allure to slap stick.

Richard Ducker said of Joshua’s work ‘it is as if the id has suddenly interrupted a polite cup of tea.’

sandy Kendall

Movement and energy are important aspects of my work. Sometimes I produce paintings on the spot, sometimes I make sketches outside and these might give rise to a conceptual or abstract piece later after I have churned the subject over in my subconscious.

Sandy Kendall was short listed for the Trinity Buoy Wharf  2020 drawing prize formally known as The Jerwood Prize and is now part of the national touring exhibition 2021!