British born Lucy McLauchlan makes site-responsive, large scale paintings & prints. Drawing inspiration from her immediate environment she allows it to inform and direct what is an intuitive, explorative process.
Her monochromatic murals cover houses and multi-stories throughout Europe, gigantic billboards in Guangzhou, gallerias of Japan, buildings in The Gambia, public gardens of London / Rome / Moscow, Italian water towers, Norwegian lighthouse, Detroit parking lot and abandoned NYC subway tunnels.
Originating from a DIY background, Lucy is co-founder of Beat13 with Matthew Watkins; established as an autonomous platform for self-initiated and collaborative projects. Working closely together, Watkins has produced award-winning films revealing an intimate insight into Lucy’s practice; Tacit, Metropolis Art Prize, New York (2010); New Zealand, Flatpack Short Film Awards, UK (2018).
Solo Exhibitions:
2021 Woodlands, Wastelands, Waterways. The Burton Gallery & Museum
2019 UNFOLD. Centrala, Birmingham
2019 There Are Voices To Be Heard. Fiksate Gallery, New Zealand
2015 Where Were You Before Now. Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona
2014 Marking Shadows. Lazarides Gallery, London
2013 Holding onto Fragments of Past Memories. Triumph Gallery, Moscow
2010 Together. Lazarides Rathbone, London
2009 All Of Us. Rugby Art Gallery and Museum
2008 Restricted Freedom. FIFTY24SF, San Francisco
2007 Expressive Deviant Phonology. Lazarides Greek Street, London
2005 Before the Birds Stop Singing, Analogue Gallery, Edinburgh
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2023 Planet Summer. Southbank Centre, London
2022 Found Cities, Lost Objects. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
2022 Print Matters. Supersonic Festival Birmingham
2020 Twenty Twenty. Spaklers Gallery, Amsterdam
2021 Vanguard - the evolution of a global movement. MShed Museum Bristol
2019 Wonder. The Herbert Museum & Art Gallery
2018 Home of Metal. Subliminal Gallery, Los Angeles
2014 Project M. Urban Nation Museum, Berlin
2017 Get Me To The Next Level. Studiocromie Italy
2017 Paradox. Tauranga Museum, New Zealand
2016 10 Years of Hate. Studiocromie Italy
2016 Hall Of Fame. Bundeskunsthalle Museum, Bonn
2015 Small Worlds. The New Art Gallery Walsall
2015 Catastrophe. Studiocromie Italy
2014 Z Projects. Library Street Collective, Detroit
2014 KAB. Angel City, Los Angeles
2013 Brutal. 180 The Strand, London
2013 Ordinary/Extra/Ordinary. The Public, West Brom
2012 Bedlam. The Old Vic Tunnels, London
2011 The Minotaur. The Old Vic Tunnels, London
2010 Street Art. Herbert Art Gallery / V&A London
2008 Outsiders. The New Art Gallery Walsall
2007 Santa’s Ghetto. Palestine
2007 Blk/Mrkt Two. Blk/Mrkt Gallery, Los Angeles
2007 No New Enemies. Mr Ego, Brussels
2006 Santa’s Ghetto. Oxford Street London
2006 Beat13. LAB101, Los Angeles
2006 Modart. Munich
2006 Art on Foam. Spacejunk Gallery, France
2005 Play On Us! Eclectic Gallery / Laforet, Tokyo
2005 Santa’s Ghetto. London
2004 Graffiti Meets Windows. Osaka, Japan
2004 Keep A Breast. Biarritz
2003 Deitch Gallery pop up. New York
2003 Scrawl Collective. LAB101, Los Angeles
2003 Kunst im Atrium. Hamburg
2002 Graffiti Meets Windows. Osaka Japan
2002 Mono Culture. Perth Australia
2001 Beat13. Filesharing project space, Berlin
2001 Beat13. the Horse Hospital, London
1999 Arc Gallery Store with Steff Plaetz, Manchester
Permanent Collections:
V&A Museum London
British Government
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Library of Birmingham
Burton at Bideford Gallery and Museum
Urban Nation Museum, Berlin
Soho House, UK & West Hollywood
Middlebury College Museum of Art, Vermont
Notable Publications:
Dial House. Gee Vaucher, Exitstencil Press (2022)
Juxtapoz Black & White. Evan Pricco, Gingko Press (2017)
Beyond the Street: The 100 Leading Figures in Urban Art. Patrick Nguyen & Stuart Mackenzie, Die Gestalten Verlag (2010)
Expressive Deviant Phonology. Matthew Watkins, Lazarides (2008)
Blk/Mrkt Two: Gallery, v.2. Blk/Mrkt Gallery, Die Gestalten Verlag (2007)
Visible Signs: Introduction to Semiotics. David Crow, AVA Publishing (2007)
Hidden Track: How Visual Culture Is Going Places. Di Ozesanmuseum Bamberg & Sven Ehmann, Gestalten (2005)
Disruptive Pattern Material: : An Encyclopedia Of Camouflage. Hardy Blechman & Alex Newman / Marharishi, Firefly Books Ltd (2004)
Taschen's 1000 Favorite Websites. Julius Wiedemann, Taschen GmbH (2003)
Hand to Eye. Angus Hyland, Laurence King Publishing (2003)
GB: Graphic Britain. Patrick Burgoyne, Laurence King Publishing (2002)
Various magazine features:
+81, I-D, Vogue, Relax, Juxtapoz, Breaking Point, Lodown…
Selected Festivals / Installs:
2023 Mural Festival Kosova
2021 Toward Bristol 2030, Bristol
2020 London Mural Festival, Leytonstone
2019 Lawn Festival, Llandudno, Wales
2019 Graffiti Junction Project, Birmingham
2018 Not Forgotten Project, Rome
2018 Villa Wolkonsky, British Embassy Rome
2018 Palma Festival, Caen
2018 Hasselt Town Hall, Belgium
2018 The Ring, Worcestershire
2017 Sorry Not Sorry, Gent
2017 Paradox Festival, New Zealand
2017 Supersonic Festival, Birmingham
2017 This Will Ruin Everything, Glasgow
2016 City of Colours, Birmingham
2016 Dulwich Outdoor Gallery, London
2016 MB6: Street Art, Marrakech Biennale
2016 Blackburn Open Walls
2016 Freiraumgalerie, Halle Germany
2015 Friends of the Earth, Birmingham
2014 Z Parking Lot, Detroit
2014 City of Colours, Birmingham
2014 Project M/2, Urban Nation Berlin
2014 GrandView, Guangzhou, China
2014 Meltdown Festival, Southbank Centre London
2013 Bien Urbain, Besançon, France
2013 Moscow Ahmad Tea Music Festival
2013 Walk and Talk, Azores
2013 Discovery Season, The Library of Birmingham
2013 Eye Candy Festival, Birmingham
2012 See No Evil, Bristol
2012 Fame Festival, Italy
2012 All You Can Paint Festival, Halle Germany
2012 Milestone Project, Girona
2012 Eye Candy Festival, Birmingham
2011 Underbelly Project, New York
2011 Nuart, Stavanger & Obrestad Fyr, Norway
2011 Crono, Lisbon
2011 City Leaks Festival, Cologne
2011 Tree House, Frankfurt
2011 Spina Festival Comacchio, Italy
2011 Fame Festival, Italy
2010 Wide Open Walls, Gambia
2010 Central Library, Birmingham
2010 Fame Festival, Italy
2010 The Arts Club, Mayfair London
2009 Fame Festival, Italy
2008 Cans Festival, Leake St London
2008 Fame Festival, Italy
2007 From The Earth We Came, Newcastle
2007 Alive Festival, Lisbon
2006 Supersonic Festival. Birmingham
2006 Latitude Festival, Suffolk
2005 Weekday, Gothenberg
2005 Supersonic Festival, Birmingham
2005 Wolverhampton Art Gallery
2005 Artsfest, Birmingham / Manchester
2005 Elms Lesters Painting Rooms, London
2005 NOW Festival, Nottingham
2005 Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Residencies:
2022 Dial House, Essex (also 2019)
2018 Moscow School of Architecture MARCH / Artmossphere
2018 Airspace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
2017 Tauranga Art Gallery, New Zealand
2016 Phytology Gardens, Bethnal Green London
2016 Studiocromie, Grottaglie Italy
2015 Fluorescent Smogg, Barcelona
2014 Keep A Breast, Los Angeles
2009 Keep A Breast, Biarritz
Workshops & Talks:
2023 Juxtapoz podcast
2023 Women’s Diversity in Design, Metro Art Track
2022 Found Cities, Lost Objects. BMAG
2022 Hodge Hill College, Birmingham
2021 Tracce research group Studio Traccia, Milan
2021 Fame Festival Documentary hosted by Juxtapoz
2019 Access Creative College, Birmingham
2019 Ark Boulton Academy, Birmingham
2016 The Arts Conference talk London
2015 Small Worlds, The New Art Gallery Walsall
2013 Sandwell Arts Festival, The Public
2013 AOI Illustration awards judge
2012 SIFA Fireside, Birmingham
2010 Kubuneh School, Gambia
2010 Spearfish, Manchester
2009 Spectrum Residential Care, Penryn
2008 Outsiders, The New Art Gallery Walsall
2009 Herewood College, Coventry
2009 Exhibition judge, Rugby Gallery & Museum
2005 Roots & Grooves, BMAG
“It is a welcome discovery to find the fluid curvilinear geometries of Lucy McLauchlan on the street - the monochrome palette genuine, the forms bursting with vitality. By coaxing graphic rhythms from the natural world and expressing them with her own gestural physicality her work has the power to bring the constructed city alive. And it does, without pretense.”
— STEVEN P. HARRINGTON. EDITOR IN CHIEF / BROOKLYN STREET ART