Jessie Makinson
London — Painting
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.
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.
Education
- 2016 — Turps Banana Studio Program, London, UK
- 2013 — The Drawing Year Postgraduate Program, The Royal Drawing School, London, UK
- 2007 — Drawing and Painting, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, UK
- 2004 — Foundation, Camberwell College of Art, London, UK
Awards & Residencies
- 2016 — Marmite Prize, London, UK
- 2015 — Creekside Open, selected by Lisa Milroy, A.P.T. Gallery, London, UK
- 2014 — Sir Dennis Mahon Award, London, UK
Selected Works
Exhibition History
Solo Shows
- 2025Jessie Makinson, Brigitte Mulholland, Paris, France
- 2024Sting to Your Bow, SPURS Gallery, Beijing, China
- 2023Bad Sleeper, Lyles & King, New York, USA
- 2023Hoof on Bone, François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, USA
- 2021Stay here while I get a curse, Lyles & King, New York, USA
- 2021Something Vexes Thee?, François Ghebaly, Los Angeles, USA
- 2020Dangerous Pleasing, Lyles and King, New York, USA
- 2019Nobody Axed You To, Fabian Lang, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2019Tender Trick, Galería OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
- 2018Jessie Makinson & Stuart Lorimer, Lyles & King, New York, USA
- 2015Fancy, 9b Projects, London, UK
Group Shows
- 2025Between Worlds, MeSo Ventures, The HiLight, London, UK
- 2026The Mythologies of Colour, MeSo Ventures, Soho House Mumbai, Mumbai, India
- 2024Oddkin: Beast, Body, Biome, Cob Gallery, London, UK
- 2024Viscous, Cassina Projects, Milan, IT
- 2024Leonora Carrington: Avatars & Alliances, Firstsite, Essex, UK
- 202410 Years Anniversary, Lychee One, London, UK
- 2024Drawn together, Royal Drawing School, London, UK
- 2023British Art Now, Telegraph Foundation, Olomouc, Czech Republic
- 2023The Descendants, WOAW Gallery, Hong Kong, China
- 2023MATERNITY LEAVE: NONE OF WOMEN BORN, Nidodim Gallery and the Green Family Art Foundation, Dallas, USA
- 2022Machines of Desire, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK & Hong Kong, China
- 2022Drawing Attention: Emerging British Artists, British Museum, London, UK
- 2022Bad Girls, curated by Joan Tucker, Maze Tower, Dubai, UAE
- 2021Dancing in Dark Times, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK
- 2021My Secret Garden, Asia Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
- 2021Horses?, CHART Gallery, New York, NY, USA
- 2021Hapticity: A Theory of Touch and Identity, Lychee One, London, UK
- 2021Reigen, Fabian Lang, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2020I WANT TO FEEL ALIVE AGAIN, Lyles & King, New York, USA
- 2020Der abscheuliche kuss, curated by Marie-Charlotte Carrier, Kunstverein Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- 2020I See You, Victoria Miro Gallery, London, UK
- 2019The Self, the Work, the World, Fabian Lang, Zurich, Switzerland
- 2019No Patience for Monuments, Perrotin, Seoul, South Korea
- 2019Hyper Mesh, curated by Alive Bonnot, Assembly Point, London, UK
- 2018In the Company Of, curated by Katy Hessel, T.J. Boulting, London, UK
- 2018Year One, Frestonian Gallery, London, UK
- 2018Dead Eden, Lyles & King, New York, USA
- 2018BioPeversity, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
- 2018Formal Encounters, Nicodim Gallery, Bucharest, Romania
- 2018Breaking Shells, curated by Justine Do Espirito Santo, The Koppel Project, London, UK
- 2018If you can't stand the heat, Roaming Projects, London, UK
- 2017Poem of the pillow, curated by Kate Neave, Frameless Gallery, London, UK
- 2017Figure it Out, Tannery Project Space, London, UK
- 2017You see me like a UFO, Marcelle Joseph Projects, Ascot, UK
- 2017Only a Handful, City and Guilds, London, UK
- 2017The Luminous Language, Frestonian Gallery, London, UK
- 2017Does your chewing gum lose it's flavour (on the bedpost overnight), J Hammond Projects, London, UK
- 2016The Classical, Transition Gallery, London, UK
- 2016Fake French, Roman Road, London, UK
- 2016Painting Made Me Do It, The Dot Project, London, UK
- 2015Concrete Fictions, New Art Projects, London, UK
- 2015Turps Goes West, Edel Assanti, London, UK
- 2013Re-Enchanted Worlds, Bosse and Baum, London, UK
Press & Publications
- Laster, Paul, "9 Standout Solo Gallery Shows to See in Paris", Galerie — 2025
- White, Katie, "Jessie Makinson’s Kaleidoscopic Paintings Are Brimming With Art Historical Footnotes", Artnet — 2023
- Olsen, Annikka, "Artists to Watch This Month: 10 Solo Gallery Exhibitions in New York to Have on Your Radar in November", Artnet — 2023
- "Spotlighting 8 Emerging Artists In Celebration Of International Women’s Day", Hypebae — 2023
- "Modern Mythology", MUSE Magazine — 2023
- "Spotlight: A Two-Part Exhibition in London and Hong Kong Explores How Art Can Inject New Images Into the Collective Conscious", Artnet News — 2022
- Hingley, Olivia, "How Jessie Makinson’s carnivalesque paintings “purposely misunderstand historical imagery”", It's Nice That — 2022
- Fateman, Johanna, "Jessie Makinson / Phumelele Tshabalala", The New Yorker — 2021
- Dillon, Noah, "Jessie Makinson: Stay here while I get a curse", The Guide Art — 2021
- "Interview: Painter Jessie Makinson On Temper Tantrums & Setting The Scene", Something Curated — 2021
- Ortiz Rapalo, Maria, "7 Contemporary Female Painters Breathing Fresh Life Into Surrealism", Lawrence Van Hagen — 2021
- "Jessie Makinson’s Mythical Femininity in an Aberrant World", Gestalten — 2020
- Alleyne, Allyssia, "Jessie Mackinson’s Otherworldly Paintings Are Filled with Enigmatic Tales", Artsy — 2020
- Steer, Emily, "Lose Yourself in Jessie Makinson’s Fantastical, Impish Paintings", Elephant Magazine — 2020
- Sherwin, Skye, "Jessie Makinson’s Furry Darkness: a carnivalesque party", The Guardian — 2020
- Snoad, Lauren, "Jessie Makinson on the intuitive process behind her fantastical paintings", It's Nice That — 2019
- Cepeda, Gaby, "Jessie Makinson’s Fantastical Works Imagine a Posthuman Dreamworld", Art In America — 2019
- Delmage, Lara, "Jessie Makinson: Fake and Lies", METAL — 2019
- Zemtsova, Maria, "Subverting Patriarchal Myths: The Willfully Feminist Work of Jessie Makinson", Art Maze Mag — 2019
- "Jessie Makinson: Tender Trick at OMR Gallery (Mexico)", ArteFuse — 2019
- Smith, Andy, "The Oil and Watercolor Paintings of Jessie Makinson", Hi-Fructose — 2019
- Walsh, Danielle, "9 of the Most Exciting Artists to Follow from Miami Art Week 2018", Vanity Fair — 2018
- Jessie Makinson, "E.R.O.S.", Journal, Issue 7: "The Interior" — 2015