Walker Art Gallery to host art prize winner Kathryn Maple's first show

Maple will only be the second winner of the John Moores Painting Prize to hold an exhibition at the gallery

The winner of a prestigious art prize is to stage her first major show in the gallery where she first found fame.

Kathryn Maple won the John Moores Painting Prize in 2021 with her work The Common, which now forms part of the Walker Art Gallery's permanent collection.

Her first major exhibition, Under A Hot Sun, will be staged at the Liverpool gallery in February 2023.

She said being able to exhibit in the gallery was a "huge opportunity".

Named after its sponsoring founder Sir John Moores in 1957 and hosted in the gallery, the annual arts prize is held with the aim of supporting artists and bringing to Liverpool "the best contemporary painting from across the UK", a representative said.

Previous winners include David Hockney, Mary Martin, Peter Doig and Rose Wylie.

Maple, who is based in south London, would become only the second winner to present work in a solo exhibition at the site, following Jacqui Hallum's show in 2019.

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The artist said her first solo show was a "huge opportunity" and would see her "in the company of many artists who have inspired my practice".

She said many of the paintings on display were "inhabited by figures that synchronise with nature's deep rhythms".

"I hope to provide a connection that is made through the surface of the paintings which resonates and echoes a sense of place," she said.

Maple said winning the prize had seen her be able to "rent a bigger studio and buy a bit more paint and canvas"

She said her technique saw her "draw from life as much as possible" before reimagining her drawings in her studio and "assembling a new relationship to spaces I visit".

"I am keen to keep the line searching and always expanding my vocabulary of mark making," she said.

"This is important from the beginning to the end of a painting."

She added that since winning the award and its £25,000 prize money, she had been able to "rent a bigger studio and buy a bit more paint and canvas, which has allowed me to find more freedom in my work".

"I am excited to have the opportunity to show my recently finished paintings in one space together at the Walker Art Gallery," she said.

Under a Hot Sun opens on 13 February and runs until 30 April.