Jessie Makinson
Jessie Makinson
CV | Press | Exhibitions
Jessie Makinson combines her skills in drawing and painting to build ecofeminist worlds in which human and non-human live in a contestant state of renegotiation. Makinson’s worlds are filled with objects abandoning their tasks and characters at once mysterious and familiar caught at a moment of tantrum. Her visual methodology is vast and ranges from contemporary science fiction to 17th and 18th-century erotica, pre-agricultural mythology, early Renaissance altarpieces, British folklore, and Flemish kitchen scenes. Plucking themes and narratives from British pop culture and mixing them, intentionally, with recognizable American motifs, she creates bold new contexts for both. Vivid colors describe tense, erotic scenes in which desirous characters are dangerous active participants, not passive permission givers. Makinson’s characters practice rituals, they embrace, plot, and conspire. They hold sexual power and disrupt expectations, inhabiting a universe that surprises, delights, and tests its audience.
Jessie Makinson (b. 1985, London) lives and works, London. Makinson’s work is in the collections of the British Museum, London; Long Museum, Shanghai; Hessel Museum, New York; and X Museum, Beijing. She has had solo exhibitions at Lyles & King, New York, US; Francois Ghebaly, Los Angeles, US; Galería OMR, Mexico City, MX; among others. Her work has been exhibited in group exhibitions including British Art Now, Telegraph Foundation, Olomouc, CR; The Descendants, K11 MUSEA, Hong Kong, CN; Machines of Desire, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK & Hong Kong; Drawing Attention: Emerging British Artists, British Museum, London, UK; Der abscheuliche kuss, Kunstverein Dresden, Dresden, DE; Dancing in Dark Times, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK; I See You, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK; No Patience for Monuments, Perrotin, Seoul, KR; In the Company Of, curated by Katy Hessel, TJ Boulting, London, UK; Formal Encounters, Nicodim Gallery, Bucharest, RO; among others. Makinson is represented by Lyles & King, New York and Francois Ghebaly, Los Angeles
Jessie Makinson, Stay here while I get a curse, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, October 28 - December 11, 2021
Jessie Makinson, This is going to be a tense afternoon, 2021, Oil on canvas, 80 3/4 x 65 inches, 205.1 x 165.1 cm
Jessie Makinson, Come on, lets find another nightmare, 2021, Oil on canvas, 47 1/4 x 78 3/4 inches, 120 x 200 cm
Jessie Makinson, Stay here while I get a curse, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, October 28 - December 11, 2021
Jessie Makinson, And other darlings, 2021, Oil on canvas, 78 3/4 x 65 inches, 200 x 165.1 cm
Jessie Makinson, try to get some sleep, 2021, Oil on canvas, 78 3/4 x 194 7/8 inches, 200 x 495 cm
Jessie Makinson, Precious rogue, 2021, Oil on canvas, 13 3/4 x 17 3/4 inches, 34.9 x 45.1 cm
Jessie Makinson, Stay here while I get a curse, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, October 28 - December 11, 2021
Jessie Makinson, A thorn to his foot, 2021, Oil on canvas, 47 1/4 x 39 3/8 inches, 120 x 100 cm
Jessie Makinson, Stay here while I get a curse, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, October 28 - December 11, 2021
Jessie Makinson, Another rascal comes, 2021, Oil on canvas, 47 1/4 x 39 3/8 inches, 120 x 100 cm
Jessie Makinson, I doppelgang, 2021, Oil on canvas, 19 3/4 x 11 3/4 inches, 50.2 x 29.8 cm
Jessie Makinson, Stay here while I get a curse, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, October 28 - December 11, 2021
Jessie Makinson, Hissing here, 2021, Oil on canvas, 37 3/8 x 33 1/2 inches, 94.9 x 85.1 cm
Jessie Makinson, Stay here while I get a curse, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, October 28 - December 11, 2021
Jessie Makinson, The Armory Show, Install View, New York, NY, September 9 - 12, 2021
Jessie Makinson, The Armory Show, Install View, New York, NY, September 9 - 12, 2021
Jessie Makinson, The Armory Show, Install View, New York, NY, September 9 - 12, 2021
Jessie Makinson, Sleepy Maidens, Oil on canvas, 17 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches, 45 x 35 cm
Jessie Makinson, a murderer contemplated the color of my hair, 2021, Oil on canvas, 35 3/8 x 27 1/2 inches, 90 x 70 cm
Jessie Makinson, Skin Spy, 2020, Oil and pigment on canvas, 82 5/8 x 78 3/4 inches, 210 x 200 cm
Jessie Makinson, Skin Spy 2020, (detail view)
Jessie Makinson, Der Abscheuliche Kuss, Installation View at Kunstverein Dresden, September 9 - November 6, 2020
Jessie Makinson, Dangerous Pleasing, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, March 27 - May 10, 2020
Jessie Makinson, Dangerous Pleasing, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, March 27 - May 10, 2020
Jessie Makinson, A pox on them, 2020, Oil and pigment on canvas, 47 1/4 x 39 3/8 inches, 120 x 100 cm
Jessie Makinson, Listen sweetie, 2019, Oil and pigments on canvas, 63 x 78.75 inches, 160 x 200 cm
Jessie Makinson, Miss ghost, 2019, Oil and pigments on canvas, 74.8 x 65 inches, 190 x 165 cm
Jessie Makinson, Tender Trick, Installation view at Galería OMR, Mexico City, MX, June 20 - August 17, 2019
Jessie Makinson, Tender Trick, Installation view at Galería OMR, Mexico City, MX, June 20 - August 17, 2019
Jessie Makinson, Tender Trick, Installation view at Galería OMR, Mexico City, Mexico, June 20 - August 17, 2019
Jessie Makinson, Hunter's Tryst, 2018, Oil on canvas, 74.75 × 63 inches, 190 × 160 cm
Jessie Makinson, Wild Cherry Sphinx, 2018, Oil on canvas, 51.125 × 35.375 inches, 130 × 90 cm
Jessie Makinson, The Chief Leaf, 2018, Oil on canvas, 74.75 × 65 inches, 190 × 165 cm
Jessie Makinson, Trickster Chic, 2018, Oil on canvas, 47.25 × 39.375 inches, 120 × 100 cm (each)
Jessie Makinson, Like a Villainelle, 2018, Oil on canvas, 27.5 × 19.625 inches, 70 × 50 cm
Jessie Makinson, Jessie Makinson & Stuart Lorimer, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, November 28, 2018 - January 13, 2019
Jessie Makinson, Cult of the Tomato Sphinx, 2018, Oil on canvas, 47.25 × 39.125 inches, 120 × 99.5 cm
Jessie Makinson, Dangerous Pleasing, Installation View at Lyles & King, New York, NY, March 27 - May 10, 2020
Jessie Makinson, She-dandies, 2018, Oil on canvas, 27.5 × 22.875 inches, 70 × 58 cm