Lucy Neish paints on homemade canvases constructed from remnants of past paintings, working with their previous history to coax out new artworks; a cat dead in grass; a goldfinch wrapped in kitchen towel; a twinkling disco ball. Working from found imagery - film screenshots, pictures circulated on WhatsApp groups, photos inadvertently captured and buried deep in a phone’s camera roll - she goes through a process of gathering and collating, creating cinematic collections that remove a subject from its original context and distorts their original intention. Painting these images with a monochromatic or sepia palette, they are unified by an implied gaze and evoke feelings of nostalgia. Far from rose-tinted, however, Neish’s nostalgia is murky, muddy and unsettling.
Previous solo presentations include ‘Debilitating Nostalgia’ at DKUK (Peckham, 2023). Recent group exhibitions include ‘On folding’ at Night Cafe (London, 2024), ‘Disneyland Past-Life’ at Grove (London, 2023), ‘Interlude’ at Kupfer (London, 2023), ‘Petrichor’ at Liliya (London, 2022), ‘Folie Deux’ at Haus Gallery (London, 2020), ‘Bodies: Self & Sex’ at No. 20 Arts (London, 2020) and Guts Gallery’s ‘Opening Exhibition’ at Ugly Duck (London, 2019).
Previous solo presentations include ‘Debilitating Nostalgia’ at DKUK (Peckham, 2023). Recent group exhibitions include ‘On folding’ at Night Cafe (London, 2024), ‘Disneyland Past-Life’ at Grove (London, 2023), ‘Interlude’ at Kupfer (London, 2023), ‘Petrichor’ at Liliya (London, 2022), ‘Folie Deux’ at Haus Gallery (London, 2020), ‘Bodies: Self & Sex’ at No. 20 Arts (London, 2020) and Guts Gallery’s ‘Opening Exhibition’ at Ugly Duck (London, 2019).
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Lucy Neish, For the yellow smoke that slides along the street (2023). Image Courtesy of the artist. 
Lucy Neish, [left] Debilitating nostalgia (2023), [right] For the yellow smoke that slides along the street (2023). Image Courtesy of the artist. 
Lucy Neish, Bad Night (2023). Image Courtesy of the artist.
Lucy Neish, Baby x (2023). Image Courtesy of the artist.
Lucy Neish, Dead Goldfinch in kitchen roll (2022). Image Courtesy of the artist.