France-Lise McGurn

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The atmospheric practice of France-Lise McGurn transports the viewer from the public realm of a museum or gallery and into the most personal quarters of the artist’s life her studio, her bedroom, her mind and musings.

The atmospheric practice of France-Lise McGurn transports the viewer from the public realm of a museum or gallery and into the most personal quarters of the artist’s life: her studio, her bedroom, her mind and musings. McGurn’s figurative practice delivers a wholly immersive experience, launching the viewer into a three dimensional world of the intimate and relatable.

The figures that occupy McGurn’s world belong to her imagination. These archetypal women and men, often portrayed in a state of undress, whether in groups, in pairs or alone, recline in both ecstasy and agony. At times, they appear bare and exposed huddled in tense tableaux, seemingly withdrawn in defence. Elsewhere, McGurn’s characters are languid, bathed in air of euphoria. 

Fluidity distinguishes McGurn’s practice. Her capricious compositions, as in Sleepless, her 2019 solo exhibition at the Tate Britain, are in their form and liberty of expression, unrestrained; while her application of paint transcends the canvas, bleeding onto the gallery walls and spilling across the floor. For McGurn, humanity in all its excitement, intimacy, poignancy, boredom and disappointment is worth uncovering.

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France-Lise McGurn in Conversation with Katy Hessel

To coincide with Simon Lee Gallery London's exhibition France-Lise McGurn: Percussia, there will be an artist talk at the gallery: France-Lise McGurn in Conversation with Katy Hessel, Curator, Art Historian, @thegreatwomenartists.

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France-Lise McGurn: Bodytronic

Kunsthaus Pasquart, Biel, Switzerland, 19 September - 22 November 2020

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Image: France-Lise McGurn: Aloud, The exposé Finissage

France-Lise McGurn: Aloud, The exposé Finissage

Simon Lee Gallery
12 January, 6-8 PM
Join France-Lise McGurn for an introduction to her installation Aloud, The exposé at Simon Lee Gallery, London followed by drinks. Talk begins at 7 PM.
Image: France-Lise McGurn: Aloud

France-Lise McGurn: Aloud

France-Lise McGurn
Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland
11 June 2021 - 1 June 2022

France-Lise McGurn’s newly commissioned installation draws on her personal experiences of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum; the hours she spent there as a child and then later as an adult, inhabiting but also observing. In particular, Albert Moore’s well-loved painting, Reading Aloud (1884), has provided a point of departure for McGurn: especially the very specific positioning and postures of the models, its textures and ambiguous lack of urgency or context.

Image: Drawing Biennial 2021

Drawing Biennial 2021

Rachel Howard, Donna Huddleston, France-Lise McGurn, João Penalva
Drawing Room, London, UK
21 May – 5 July 2021

Featuring new and recent works on paper by leading international artists, the Biennial showcases every imaginable technique and represents artists from a range of generations, backgrounds, and heritages.

Image: France-Lise McGurn on Tamara de Lempicka

France-Lise McGurn on Tamara de Lempicka

France-Lise McGurn
DRAF Broadcasts: Podcast
Tuesday, 22 October 2020

Glasgow-based artist France-Lise McGurn is the latest guest on DRAF Broadcasts: Podcast, talking about Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka’s drawing Sur La Plage, made circa 1926 when de Lempicka lived in Paris and was a prominent member of the art scene between the two world wars. This work from the David Roberts Collection becomes the basis for a conversation that touches on the female nude, Madonna videos and cigarette packets.

Image: Bodytronic

Bodytronic

France-Lise McGurn
Kunsthaus Centre d'art Pasquart
19 September - 22 November 2020

The multiple sources which McGurn refers to in the initial stages of her work most recently include films of the 70s and 80s, fashion illustration, advertising, pop stars and glamour photography. The generic features of the figures, accentuated by their repetition across the wall paintings, conveys a sense of intimacy or familiarity open to multiple readings. She also is inspired by people she encounters, studying their movements, mannerisms and hand gestures.

Image: France-Lise McGurn in Conversation with Katy Hessel

France-Lise McGurn in Conversation with Katy Hessel

France-Lise McGurn
Simon Lee Gallery, London
25 January, 2020

To coincide with Simon Lee Gallery London's exhibition France-Lise McGurn: Percussia, there will be an artist talk at the gallery: France-Lise McGurn in Conversation with Katy Hessel, Curator, Art Historian, @thegreatwomenartists

The talk will take place Saturday 25th January, 12 PM, Simon Lee Gallery, London

Please note this event is free to the public, but booking is required: events@simonleegallery.com

Image: France-Lise McGurn, Fish, 2019

Image: France-Lise McGurn: In Emotia

France-Lise McGurn: In Emotia

France-Lise McGurn
Tramway, Glasgow
18 January - 22 March 2020

France-Lise McGurn (born 1983) is a Glasgow-based artist who predominantly works with painting to create layered installations that incorporate the gallery walls, floors and ceilings.

"In Emotia" is a derivative term which suggests a state of being, simultaneously emotional and in motion. Mcgurn’s figurative painting and wall drawings evoke bodies and limbs overlapping and interacting in ambivalent spaces, at parties, in night clubs, on streets or lying in bed either side of paper thin walls. Cities and bodies, are constantly moving and shaping each other, a sentiment which McGurn evokes through the shifting forms and gestures of her metropolitan figures. Often the works themselves overlap from canvas to wall to floor, creating energetic compositions which suggest intimacy, ecstasy, sexuality, violence and loss.

For more information, please click here

Image:  France-Lise McGurn, Easy Emotia, 2019

Photo credit: Courtesy of the artist 

Receive information on available works by France-Lise McGurn