LONDON.- Joe Whale was nine when the drawings that repeatedly landed him in trouble at school found an unexpected new home, covering the walls of a restaurant in Shrewsbury. The images soon travelled around the world, and "The Doodle Boy" was born.

Seven years later, Whale returns to the UK as a very different artist. Now 16 and based in Adelaide, Australia, Joe Whale will unveil Ambassadors of Feeling, his first major London solo exhibition, at The Truman Brewery in Shoreditch from 22–25 October 2026. The entirely new body of work marks a departure and development in his practice, moving from the instinctive doodling for which he became known towards a more intentional visual language encompassing large-scale acrylic painting, colour and sculpture.



After attracting international attention at nine, Whale's trajectory led to gallery exhibitions and collaborations with Nike, Disney and M&S, as well as a Royal commission. But rather than remaining within the visual language that first made him famous, Whale has increasingly begun to question why he is making an image as much as what he is making.

Where the younger Joe would begin drawing and "freestyle" his way towards a finished work, today he maps ideas, considers the message he wants a work to convey and then builds the visual around it. It is an evolution into deeper themes, characters and creative worlds while retaining the imagination and playfulness at the heart of his earliest work.



THE AMBASSADORS OF FEELING

That progression finds its clearest expression in Ambassadors of Feeling.

At the centre of the exhibition are ten characters, Whale's "Ambassadors", through which he explores ideas including: Direction, Care, Humanity, Rebellion, Positivity, Peace, Imagination, Unpredictability, Impact and Awareness.

The origins of the collection are personal. Whale has described how his approach to drawing changed after his family moved from the UK to Australia during his teenage years. What had once been an instinctive form of expression became a means of processing change, and the increasingly complicated emotions of growing up. Each Ambassador represents a feeling or state of mind that Whale continues to explore, rather than one he considers resolved.



FEELING IN AN ALGORITHMIC AGE

The collection also reflects Whale's growing interest in what happens to creativity and emotion in a world increasingly mediated through technology. Having grown up alongside social media, and more recently, generative AI, he considers how digital platforms, algorithms and constant streams of information shape the way we experience and express creativity.

Rather than prescribing what each character means, Whale invites the audience to bring their own experiences to the work: The Ambassadors are open to interpretation allowing different viewers to recognise something familiar, find their own meaning and respond in in their own way.

Speaking of his return to London, Joe says: "I'm really excited to be bringing Ambassadors of Feeling to London. I've changed a lot since I left the UK, and the way I make art has changed with me. When I was younger, I would just start drawing and see where it took me; now I think much more about what I want the work to say. This collection feels very personal because the characters come from feelings and experiences I'm still working through myself. I hope people can stand in front of them and recognise something from their own lives too."



THE EXHIBITION

Ambassadors of Feeling will comprise more than 22 newly created works, including large-scale and acrylic paintings alongside sculpture.

Joe Whale, 16, first became internationally known as "The Doodle Boy" after photographs of a mural he created at a restaurant in Shrewsbury at the age of nine attracted global attention. He has subsequently exhibited in Shrewsbury, Cologne and Adelaide and worked on projects with brands including Nike, Disney and M&S, alongside a Royal commission. He is currently based in Adelaide, Australia. His practice now encompasses drawing, painting, sculpture, animation and film, with Ambassadors of Feeling representing the next stage in his development as a contemporary artist.