William Mackrell

Strip (2023)
Etching on C-type print mounted on aluminium
24.5 x 22.5 cm

Breathless (2018)
Etching on C-type Print Mounted and framed
139 x 121 cm

After the Nightmare (2023)
Etching on c-type print, mounted on aluminium
Left to right 22 x 19 cm, 27 x 19 cm

After Fuseli (2024)
Etching on C-type print, mounted on aluminium (5 panels)
56 x 54.5 cm

Cover Up (Bloom) 2020
Etching on magazine print mounted on aluminium Mounted in UV acrylic case
18.5 x 12.5 cm

Recliner Splurt (2024)
Lipstick on Polar white archival paper (4 panels) Lime wood frame, UV glass
168 x 119 cm

Divine (Working drawing Lapidarium) (2024)
Lipstick on Acrylic heavy weight paper Framed
33 x 42 cm

BIOGRAPHY

William Mackrell works out of performance, etching and painting leaving behind traces and fragile assemblages that delve into bodily sensations of touch, absence and desire.

William Mackrell engages with performance and through a direct physical approach to the surface of his chosen medium. In his photography hairy body parts are magnified and cropped before using an etching needle to meticulously scratch out each individual hair from the surface of the paper.

Even though they are portraits, Mackrell never includes the whole face in his images, choosing to represent a universal body instead of a particular identity. The way he contorts the body results in an abstract form emphasising line and curve that evoke the contours of a natural landscape. The large scale to which it is magnified reinforces this effect.

The resulting works are an intimate yet impersonal way to deal with issues of objectivity around their own body and convey a certain futility and frustration in the effort toward intimacy, reminiscent of the self-consciousness felt when standing next to someone on a crowded train.

Applying lipstick to his lips Mackrell speaks directly to the surface of the paper, the resulting gestures reveal the performative nature of emotion, waves of feeling that are pure impulse.

Mackrell’s works have been acquired by the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2020), Albright-Knox Museum, Buffalo (2017), Manchester Art Gallery Collection and the Purchase Prize for his MFA Degree show (2016) at Goldsmiths College, London.

GALLERY EXHIBITIONS

Exposed Tender
2025

Strip
2023

Rage rage against the dying of the light
2021

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS

The London Open Live

Whitechapel Gallery
London

04 June – 07 September 2025

MuseuMusa

Muzej Lapidarium
Croatia

18 May – 24 June 2025

Collecting for Manchester

Manchester Art Gallery
UK

07 Feb – 31 December 2025

A painter in the house of letters

Musée Delacroix
Paris

June 2021

Drawing: The Beginning of Everything

Buffalo AKG Art Museum
USA

08 Jul – 15 October 2017