Artist Statement

Grace Mattingly’s paintings are luminously bright and playful. Feminine and gender-neutral figures mingle with animals and creatures in a fantastical, atmospheric universe. Curvaceous landscapes are peppered with cowboy boots and heels, candles, and reptiles. The works exude a sunny warmth and intimacy, with their glowing palette that draws you closer, even whilst their scale is often life-size. Each mark is unrehearsed and dynamic, softly yet decisively applied in oil, acrylic, and watercolor mediums to slick surfaces on canvas, panel, and paper. The works reflect on themes of gender and sexuality, play and improvisation, and fantasy and the unconscious. 

Mattingly refers to various reference materials for her work, often with an eye towards feminist revisionism around topics of desire, agency, and queer representation. These include fairytales, classical mythology, prehistoric art, and “girly” 1990s-2000s pop culture. She also draws inspiration from the playful and surreal erotic sensibility of Japanese shunga prints, the bold and dynamic brushwork of Chinese literati painting, and the campy humor of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Bio

Grace Mattingly (b.1991, Chicago) is a London-based artist whose work has been shown internationally in solo and group exhibitions. 

Solo exhibitions include: Dancers, Haricot Gallery (London, UK, 2025), Sundown, Goldfinch Gallery (Chicago, US, 2024), Monster Party, Arusha Gallery (Bruton, 2024), Untitled Miami, Huxley Parlour Gallery, (Miami, US, 2022), Yellow Horses, Taymour Grahne (London, UK, 2022), and Secret Sunshines, (Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, UK, 2021).

Group exhibitions include: Drunken Boat, Haricot Gallery (London, UK, 2026), PAPER, Huxley Parlour, (London, UK, 2025), Neon Jungle Nocturne, Lychee One (London, UK, 2024), Luminous Terrain, Atipografia, (Arzignano, IT, 2023), New Mythologies II, Huxley Parlour, (London, UK, 2022), Four Painters & A Photographer, Grove Berlin, (Berlin, DE, 2022), Intimacy, Taymour Grahne Projects, (London, UK, 2022), and Internal Weather, Sid Motion Gallery, (London, UK, 2022). 

Mattingly has been featured in artist publications such as émergent magazine and Art Maze Mag and is a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields grant. She holds a BA in philosophy from Columbia University (2014) and an MA in painting from The Slade School of Fine Art (2021).