Joanna van Son, born to Venezuelan and Dutch parents, lives and works in London with her partner Lilah, who is often the subject of her paintings. Trained in architecture at the Bartlett, her initial practice challenges the spatial logic of the body, exploring the female figure in chaotic and intuitive impasto. She paints directly into the final form, without underpainting or colour blocking, though an important underdrawing remains, often annotated with notes about the placement of figures or objects, along with personal jottings that later become abstracted.

Drawing from the intersection of art and architecture, Van Son examines the hidden structures that shape perception. She draws influence from Cecily Brown, and the compositional intimacies of Auguste Rodin, treating her process as both method and subject. Her paintings often depict her muse and fiancée Lilah Yektai - who is painted in a fluid interplay of poses in the traditional portraiture form. However, the raw and intimate relationship between the two as model, muse and artist is blurry. Figures dissolve into roomscapes, gradients of light and shadow, and expanses of pure colour. The raw and intimate portraits inhabiting a constructed world suffused with devotion.