Join us for the first UK retrospective of Glasgow-born, Brussels-based artist Lucy McKenzie (b. 1977). The exhibition brings together over 80 works dating from 1997 to the present. Visitors can enjoy large-scale architectural paintings, illusionistic trompe l鈥檕eil works, as well as fashion and design.
The exhibition highlights themes that have interested the artist throughout her career such as the iconography of international sport, the representation of women, gender politics, music subcultures and post-war muralism.
A skillful painter, McKenzie is known for her use of the trompe l鈥檕eil technique; paintings that are so convincingly real they literally 鈥渄eceive the eye鈥. Take a closer look at Quodlibet XIII (Janette Murray) 2010 and you鈥檒l discover the pin board, with attached map, knitting pattern, and wool is in fact, a painting.
McKenzie collaborates with other creatives regularly. Through her collaborations, she challenges the notion of authorship by pointing to the strength of collective actions. McKenzie founded Atelier E.B. with Scottish designer Beca Lipscombe which has operated as a fashion label since 2011. Street Vitrine III Constellation 2020 produced by Atelier E.B. highlights the artistic skill involved in window dressing. This is further investigated in works like Rebecca 2019 which questions some people鈥檚 perception of 鈥榳indow dressing鈥 as a talent that requires little skill.
Lucy McKenzie, May of Teck 2010 漏 Collection Charles Asprey 漏 Lucy McKenzie. Photo courtesy of the artist; Galerie Buchholz, Cologne/Berlin/New York
Lucy McKenzie Fountain and Portrait of Mannequin 2019. Collection Nicoletta Fiorucci Russo, London. Courtesy the artist and Cabinet, London
