Donna Huddleston's UK Solo Show at Drawing Room Explores Theatre and Art History

Irish-Australian artist Donna Huddleston presented her first UK solo exhibition at Drawing Room in London from 28 November 2019 to 1 March 2020. The show featured drawings from 2019 that blend her background in theatre design with references to figures like Anton Chekhov, Raphael, Diego Velázquez, and Tennessee Williams. A central piece, the titular work 'The Exhausted Student,' spans over two meters wide and reimagines Raphael's 'The Deposition' (1507), substituting Christ with a collapsed young woman holding a paintbrush. Other works, such as 'The Call,' depict theatrical gestures—like a woman with a rotary telephone—using colored pencil layers that evoke faded clothing. Huddleston's compositions often portray groups of young women in static, tableau-like scenes, focusing on details like berets, nail varnish, and bloodshot eyes to convey personality. The exhibition text incorporates quotes from Williams's 1961 play 'The Night of the Iguana,' while visual nods to Velázquez's 'Las Meninas' (1656) appear in the structured dress and frontal gazes. Through these elements, the artist explores themes of creative labor, ambition, and the blurring of theatre and life, presented in a dreamlike state that avoids deeper signification.