Roland Young
Roland creates intricate, curious drawings through which he develops his own unique weird and wonderful worlds. He goes through phases of work, shifting between squares, abstract shapes or character drawings. Occasionally he will fuse these ideas together to create simplified abstract landscapes, often with a circus or transport theme for his characters to stand in.
The character drawings offer a series of intriguing line-ups. Each drawing has its own story and Roland will occasionally talk about each character and the places he has positioned them in, at other times his drawings remain a mystery. Roland’s delicate approach to each drawing creates subtle facial expressions and emphasizes the wonderfully quirky shapes and forms of each figure.
Biography
Roland has been a resident artist at the ActionSpace Voltaire Studio since 2004. His practice has remained steady and his unique character drawings continue to charm and intrigue. Roland’s great capacity for socialising have ensured his time spent developing work as part of our off site, public based projects have been highly rewarding. He loves meeting new people who eventually feature in in his work and will join a crowd of Roland’s other friends. As Roland’s drawings are frequently on the smaller scale for Watch this Space 2014 we projected them to be super large within the shop. He also exhibited larger, printed out individual characters to highlight the often subtle qualities Roland captures in the expressions of the people he’s drawn.
Exhibitions
Outside In: Environments, Piano Nobile Gallery, Kings Place, 2019 (group show)
Art is Part of The Equation, Royal Academy, 2019 (group show)
The Out There Art Fair, Cockpit Arts Christmas Open Studios, 2016 (group show)
Watch This Space, Wandsworth Fringe, Southside Shopping Centre 2016
Voltaire Open, Studio Voltaire, 2016 (group show)
Watch This Space, Wandsworth Fringe Festival, Southside Shopping Centre, 2015
Watch This Space, Wandsworth Arts Festival Fringe, Southside Shopping Centre, 2014 (group show)
Open House, Studio Voltaire, 2013 (group show)
Impact Art Fair, Block 336, 2013
Part of It 3 Wandsworth Arts Festival. Tooting Market, 2012
Part of It 2, Wandsworth Arts Festival, Southside Shopping Centre. Participatory installation, 2011
Part of It, Wandsworth Arts Festival, Southside Shopping Centre. Participatory installation, 2010
Cut it out, Southfields Library, 2008
Under Glass, University College Hospital, 2008
Pigs Might Fly, Pump House Gallery, 2006
18 Drivers, Studio Voltaire, 2005