Jessie Makinson
Jessie Makinson (b. 1985, based in London) creates intricate, jewel-like paintings that blend historical and folkloric environments with fantastical social portraiture. Her scenes draw on literary and mythological networks, folding together references such as 18th-century brothel imagery, Georgian parlour games, and contemporary eco sci-fi into unstable, funhouse-mirror worlds.
About
Jessie Makinson creates richly imagined ecofeminist worlds in which human and non-human life exist in a constant state of renegotiation. Combining drawing and painting, she builds scenes charged with tension, humour and desire, populated by objects that seem to abandon their function and figures that feel at once mysterious, theatrical and strangely familiar. Drawing on references that range from contemporary science fiction and British folklore to 17th- and 18th-century erotica, pre-agricultural mythology, early Renaissance altarpieces and Flemish kitchen scenes, Jessie Makinson folds together diverse visual histories to create vivid, unstable narratives.
Her paintings are marked by bold colour, erotic energy and a sense of ritual, where characters embrace, plot, perform and disrupt expectation. Plucking themes from British pop culture and mixing them with recognisable American motifs, Makinson creates charged new contexts in which power is fluid and desire is active rather than passive. The result is a universe that is sensuous, mischievous and psychologically complex, inviting viewers into scenes that surprise, delight and unsettle in equal measure.
Education
Turps Banana Studio Program, 2016 (London, UK)
The Royal Drawing School, The Drawing Year Postgraduate Program, 2013 (London, UK)
Edinburgh College of Art, Drawing and Painting, 2007 (Edinburgh, UK)
Camberwell College of Art, Foundation, 2004 (London, UK)
Select Group & Solo Exhibitions
Upcoming: The Mythologies of Colour, Meso Ventures, Soho House Mumbai, 2026 (Mumbai, India)
Jessie Makinson, Brigitte Mulholland, 2025 (Paris, France)
Drawn together, Royal Drawing School, 2024 (London, UK)
Sting to Your Bow, SPURS Gallery, 2024 (Beijing, China)
Bad Sleeper, Lyles & King, 2023 (New York, USA)
Hoof on Bone, François Ghebaly, 2023 (Los Angeles, USA)
British Art Now, Telegraph Foundation, 2023 (Olomouc, Czech Republic)
The Descendants, WOAW Gallery, 2023 (Hong Kong, China)
MATERNITY LEAVE: NONE OF WOMEN BORN, Nidodim Gallery and the Green Family Art Foundation, 2023 (Dallas, USA)
Machines of Desire, Simon Lee Gallery, 2022 (London, UK & Hong Kong, China)
Drawing Attention: Emerging British Artists, British Museum, 2022 (London, UK)
Dancing in Dark Times, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, 2021 (London, UK)
My Secret Garden, Asia Art Center, 2021 (Taipei, Taiwan)
Horses?, CHART Gallery, 2021 (New York, NY, USA)
Reigen, Fabian Lang, 2021 (Zurich, Switzerland)
Stay here while I get a curse, Lyles & King, 2021 (New York, USA)
Something Vexes Thee?, François Ghebaly, 2021 (Los Angeles, USA)
Dangerous Pleasing, Lyles and King, 2020 (New York, USA)
I See You, Victoria Miro Gallery, 2020 (London, UK)
Nobody Axed You To, Fabian Lang, 2019 (Zurich, Switzerland)
Tender Trick, Galería OMR, 2019 (Mexico City, Mexico)
Jessie Makinson & Stuart Lorimer, Lyles & King, 2018 (New York, USA)
BioPeversity, Nicodim Gallery, 2018 (Los Angeles, USA)
In the Company Of, curated by Katy Hessel, T.J. Boulting, 2018 (London, UK)
The Luminous Language, Frestonian Gallery, 2017 (London, UK)
Fake French, Roman Road, 2016 (London, UK)
Turps Goes West, Edel Assanti, 2015 (London, UK)
Re-Enchanted Worlds, Bosse and Baum, 2013 (London, UK)
Notable Private & Public Art Collections
British Museum, (London, UK)
Hessel Museum, (New York, USA)
ICA Miami, (Miami, USA)
Long Museum, (Shanghai, China)
X Museum, (Beijing, China)
Press & Publications
Laster, Paul, “9 Standout Solo Gallery Shows to See in Paris,” Galerie, October 23, 2025
White Katie, “Jessie Makinson’s Kaleidoscopic Paintings Are Brimming With Art Historical Footnotes,” Artnet, November 17, 2023
Olsen, Annikka, “Artists to Watch This Month: 10 Solo Gallery Exhibitions in New York to Have on Your Radar in November,” Artnet, November 9, 2023
“Spotlighting 8 Emerging Artists In Celebration Of International Women’s Day”, Hypebae, March 8, 2023
“Modern Mythology,” MUSE Magazine, January 6, 2023
“Spotlight: A Two-Part Exhibition in London and Hong Kong Explores How Art Can Inject New Images Into the Collective Conscious,” Artnet News, July 25, 2022
Fateman, Johanna, “Jessie Makinson / Phumelele Tshabalala,” The New Yorker, October 2021
Alleyne, Allyssia, “Jessie Mackinson’s Otherworldly Paintings Are Filled with Enigmatic Tales,” Artsy, August 24, 2020
Sherwin, Skye, “Jessie Makinson’s Furry Darkness: a carnivalesque party,” The Guardian, June 5, 2020
Zemtsova, Maria, “Subverting Patriarchal Myths: The Willfully Feminist Work of Jessie Makinson,” Art Maze Mag, July 2019
Walsh, Danielle, “9 of the Most Exciting Artists to Follow from Miami Art Week 2018,” Vanity Fair, December 13, 2018