Jessie MakinsonPlaying for smiles, 2026

Gouache and colored pencil

10.83 × 8.27 in, 27.5 x 21 cm

About the artist

crafts intricate, jewel-like scenes that blend historical and folkloric environments with fantastical social portraiture. Her work features androgynous figures embedded in rich social narratives drawn from a vast network of literary and mythological references. The figures, twisting and bending at uncanny angles across unstable grounds, evoke the same sensation of funhouse mirrors, weaving 18th-century brothel scenes, Georgian parlour games, and contemporary eco sci-fi. These layered imaginaries, guided by Makinson’s chameleon storytelling voice, convey scenes of rich sociality. Jessie Makinson (b. 1985) lives and works in London, where she completed the Drawing Year Postgraduate Program at the Royal Drawing School in 2013. Recent solo exhibitions include Spurs, Beijing, China; François Ghebaly, Los Angeles; Lyles & King, New York; Fabian Lang Gallery, Zürich; and Galería OMR, Mexico City. Recent group exhibitions include Simon Lee Gallery, London; British Museum, London; Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London; Asia Art Center, Taipei; Fabian Lang Gallery, Zürich; Lyles & King, New York; Victoria Miro, London; and Perrotin, Seoul.

Jessie MakinsonPlaying for smiles, 2026

Gouache and colored pencil

10.83 × 8.27 in, 27.5 x 21 cm

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