France-Lise McGurn: Hostess

20 Apr-25 May 2023

PV 20 Apr 2023, 6-8pm

France-Lise McGurn, The Blow Out (detail), 2023. Credit: Courtesy of the artist.

Overview

Simon Lee Gallery is proud to announce Hostess, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Glasgow- and London- based artist France-Lise McGurn. Situated on the first floor of the gallery, Hostess showcases a new body of work featuring a large central triptych, new wall piece and a painted sofa suite.

Working on linen, McGurn allows this base textile to shift the tone and mood of these new paintings. The exhibition title refers to the politics and power dynamics inherent in hosting, both socially and within the science of the body. The feminised term 'hostess' points to the recurring female form as a motif and abstract glyphic psychological reiteration in McGurn’s work.

Evading the boundaries of the traditional picture plane, McGurn eschews the limits of her canvases by extending the imagery directly onto the gallery walls and onto furniture brought into the space, displacing her subjects and creating an immersive environment. Instead of approaching painting as a static form, the artist activates the composition, allowing the figures and forms to be seen as though in a field of vision. Occasionally confrontational, sometimes passive, sometimes ecstatic, these characters shift through these emotions, constantly reforming their personas.

About France-Lise McGurn

Born in 1983, France-Lise McGurn lives and works in Glasgow and London, UK. After completing her studies at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee, UK, she obtained her masters at the Hunter College of Art, New York, NY and the Royal College of Art, London, UK, both in 2012. In 2005, she was awarded the John Kinross Scholarship to Florence by the Royal Scottish Academy. She has also received the John Milne Purvis prize (2005) and the Jeremy Cubitt prize (2010). Her work has been the subject of a number of solo museum, gallery, and art fair presentations, most recently: Studio Voltaire, London, UK (2023); Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK (2022); The Armory Show, New York, NY (2022); Glasgow International, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, UK (2021); Kunsthaus Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland (2020); Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK (2020); Tramway, Glasgow, UK (2020); Tate Britain, London, UK (2019); Hospitalfield House, Arbroath, UK (2018); Alison Jacques Gallery, London, UK (2017); and Bosse and Baum, London, UK (2016). Recent group exhibitions include Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK (2023); Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Rugby, UK (2022); Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, UK (2022); Drawing Room, London, UK (2021); Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, UK (2021); Simon Lee Gallery, New York , NY (2020); Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow, UK (2019); CCA, Glasgow, UK (2018); Tate St. Ives, Cornwall, UK which travelled to Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, UK and The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK (2018); Une Une Une, Perpignan, France (2017) and David Roberts Collection, London, UK (2017).

Artists