Annie Whiles  Moondog
Annie Whiles, Moondog 5, 2018, lime wood, stones, glass eyes and oil paint, 40 x 20 x 40cm
Annie Whiles  Moondog 5  2018  lime wood, stones, glass eyes and oil paint  40 x 20 x 40cm. Photograph by Peter White

Private view: Friday 9 November  6 - 9pm
10 November – 8 December 2018


Annie Whiles has carved five female dogs from wood for her third solo show at Danielle Arnaud, trying to record her experience of the 1999 total eclipse in their bodies. They sit at a height that allows them to be seen as independent from humans. They are placed as exhibits, drawn from Whiles’ own museum encounters with objects that are strangely familiar: recognised from insistent but impossible memories.

Annie Whiles lives and works in London, she has taught at Goldsmiths on the B.A Fine Art since her M.A. in 2000. Whiles started woodcarving after the 1987 Great Storm left an abundance of fallen trees in its wake.

Her work often starts with an anecdote told about an encounter experienced several years earlier, that overtime has not settled into any logic or reason. Whiles suspects we are asleep and that at night, we might be experiencing our lives. She sees the objects she makes as probes or travellers that test this, by commingling the miraculous and mundane.

These encounters often involve animals as an intuitive and instinctive presence, offering us a glimpse into this elsewhere, demonstrating that alliances can be made but an evolutionary sidestep has occurred, producing slight but distinct differences in appearances and sound volume. She is interested in the cultural lost property that magic produces and how she lives with the expectation of finding her shoes in a museum and not being able to explain how they got there.

Shows include Thirteen Blackbirds Look at a Man, Chapter, Cardiff 2016, R.A Summer show 2018 and 2015, Beggars Belief, Danielle Arnaud 2011 and Cuckoo 2007, touring to The Grundy in Blackpool.

Annie Whiles, Moondog 2, 2018, beech wood and oil paint, 40 x 20 x 30cm. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 2  2018  beech wood and oil paint  40 x 20 x 30cm
installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 2, 2018, beech wood and oil paint, 40 x 20 x 30cm. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 2  2018  beech wood and oil paint  40 x 20 x 30cm
installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 2 (detail), 2018, beech wood and oil paint, 40 x 20 x 30cm. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 2 (detail)  2018  beech wood and oil paint  40 x 20 x 30cm
installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 1, 2018, apple wood and oil paint, 30 x 15 x 25cm. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 1  2018  apple wood and oil paint   30 x 15 x 25cm
Installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 1, 2018, apple wood and oil paint, 30 x 15 x 25cm. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 1  2018  apple wood and oil paint   30 x 15 x 25cm
Installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 1 (detail), 2018, apple wood and oil paint, 30 x 15 x 25cm. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 1 (detail)  2018  apple wood and oil paint   30 x 15 x 25cm
Installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 3, 2018, Moondog 1, 2018 and Moondog 2, 2018. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 3  2018  Moondog 1  2018 and Moondog 2  2018  installation view by Oskar Proctor  installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 3, 2018, lime wood, glass eyes and oil paint, 20 x 15 x 30cm. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 3  2018  lime wood, glass eyes and oil paint  20 x 15 x 30cm
Installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 3, 2018, lime wood, glass eyes and oil paint, 20 x 15 x 30cm. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 3  2018  lime wood, glass eyes and oil paint  20 x 15 x 30cm
Installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 5, 2018, lime wood, stones, glass eyes and oil paint, 40 x 20 x 40cm. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 5  2018  lime wood, stones, glass eyes and oil paint  40 x 20 x 40cm
Installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 5, 2018, lime wood, stones, glass eyes and oil paint, 40 x 20 x 40cm. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 5  2018  lime wood, stones, glass eyes and oil paint  40 x 20 x 40cm
Installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 4, 2018 and Moondog 5, 2018. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 4  2018 and Moondog 5  2018  installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 4, 2018, chestnut wood, stones,  glass eyes and oil paint, 45 x 30 x 40cm. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 4  2018  chestnut wood, stones, glass eyes and oil paint  45 x 30 x 40cm
installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 4, 2018, chestnut wood, stones,  glass eyes and oil paint, 45 x 30 x 40cm. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 4  2018  chestnut wood, stones, glass eyes and oil paint  45 x 30 x 40cm
installation view by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles, Moondog 5, 2018 and Moondog 4, 2018. Photograph by Oskar Proctor

Annie Whiles  Moondog 5  2018 and Moondog 4  2018  installation view by Oskar Proctor

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