Hannah Murgatroyd’s works are island spaces of the imagination, painted and drawn worlds inhabited by protagonists forming an idiosyncratic canon of desire, whose genesis springs from a history of the body told through high art, popular culture and personal narrative. The resulting narratives exist by association, they are passages contained within and marked by gesture: both in the drawn line and the bodily stance recited by the figures represented. Shifting between being intruders upon and belonging decidedly to their environs, each protagonist is occupied with staging an idea of his or her self. At times, these display as bodies within scenes, at others, the images sift into split-scenarios, polyptychs stating the conventions of picture-making: landscape, portrait, or conversation piece. In painting, a wholly described body with eyes, nose and lips terrorizes the viewer into deducing meaning, into being absurdly seduced by feelings, based on what might be real. Transcribed by an immodest mark and palette, representation here opens a window onto a version of the world, one eroticized, ambiguous and engaged deeply with surface.
Instagram: @hannah_murgatroyd
Contact: hannah.murgatroyd[a]network.rca.ac.uk
Exhibitions
2017
'Landscape Is A Peopled World', (solo), Exeter Phoenix, Exeter, UK (upcoming)
'Spike Island Open', Spike Island, Bristol, UK
2016
'Leisured Bodies', (solo), Roper Gallery, Bath, UK
2015
'Signal:Failure', Safe House Peckham, London, UK
'Drawn 2015', RWA, Bristol, UK
2014
'Exeter Contemporary Open 2014', Exeter Phoenix, Exeter, UK
2013
'Co-Work', Clockwork Gallery, Berlin, DE
2012
'The British Muesum', The Muesum, Berlin, DE
2010
'Show I', MMX, Berlin, DE
2009
'Kunskog', Five Hundred Dollars, London, UK
'Lumpenstadt' (solo), Appartement, Berlin, DE
'LIA Offene Ateliers', Spinnerei, Leipzig, DE
'Spring Rundgang', LIA, Spinnerei, Leipzig, DE
2008
'Jerwood Drawing Prize' Exhibition, London (and touring nationally), UK
'Group Drawing Show', Prince’s Drawing School, London, UK
2007
'Hidden', Royal College of Art, London, UK
'Appetite for Decoration', Group Show, Terrace, London, UK
'Drawing Show', Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, UK
2006
'Graduate Show', Prince’s Drawing School, London, UK
'Small Monuments' (solo), Mount House Gallery, Marlborough, UK
2005
'Like Nowhere Else', Graduate Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2004
'Welcome To Parallelville', Permanent Gallery, Brighton, UK
2003
'Watching the World with the Sound Turned Down', Permanent Gallery, Brighton, UK
Education
Postgraduate Drawing Year, Prince’s Drawing School, London 2005-2006
MA Communication Art & Design, Royal College of Art, London, 2003-2005
BA Illustration, (1st ), University of Brighton, Brighton, 1996-1999
Awards
Overall Award Winner, Exeter Contemporary Open, UK, 2014
Jerwood Drawing Prize exhibitor, London (and touring), UK, 2008
Drawing Prize, Graduate Show, Prince’s Drawing School, 2006
Prize for Drawing Excellence, Prince’s Drawing School, 2006
1st, Man Group Drawing Prize, Royal College of Art, 2005
3rd, Man Group Drawing Prize, Royal College of Art, 2004
Residencies
Moritz-Heyman Residency, Pignano, Italy, 2016
Bath Artists' Studios, Bath, UK, 2016
Dumfries House Residency, Scotland, 2014
LIA (Leipzig International Artist Residency Programme), Spinnerei, Leipzig, DE, 2009
Writer in Residence, Permanent Gallery, Permanent Gallery, Brighton, UK, 2007
Instagram: @hannah_murgatroyd
Contact: hannah.murgatroyd[a]network.rca.ac.uk
Exhibitions
2017
'Landscape Is A Peopled World', (solo), Exeter Phoenix, Exeter, UK (upcoming)
'Spike Island Open', Spike Island, Bristol, UK
2016
'Leisured Bodies', (solo), Roper Gallery, Bath, UK
2015
'Signal:Failure', Safe House Peckham, London, UK
'Drawn 2015', RWA, Bristol, UK
2014
'Exeter Contemporary Open 2014', Exeter Phoenix, Exeter, UK
2013
'Co-Work', Clockwork Gallery, Berlin, DE
2012
'The British Muesum', The Muesum, Berlin, DE
2010
'Show I', MMX, Berlin, DE
2009
'Kunskog', Five Hundred Dollars, London, UK
'Lumpenstadt' (solo), Appartement, Berlin, DE
'LIA Offene Ateliers', Spinnerei, Leipzig, DE
'Spring Rundgang', LIA, Spinnerei, Leipzig, DE
2008
'Jerwood Drawing Prize' Exhibition, London (and touring nationally), UK
'Group Drawing Show', Prince’s Drawing School, London, UK
2007
'Hidden', Royal College of Art, London, UK
'Appetite for Decoration', Group Show, Terrace, London, UK
'Drawing Show', Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, UK
2006
'Graduate Show', Prince’s Drawing School, London, UK
'Small Monuments' (solo), Mount House Gallery, Marlborough, UK
2005
'Like Nowhere Else', Graduate Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK
2004
'Welcome To Parallelville', Permanent Gallery, Brighton, UK
2003
'Watching the World with the Sound Turned Down', Permanent Gallery, Brighton, UK
Education
Postgraduate Drawing Year, Prince’s Drawing School, London 2005-2006
MA Communication Art & Design, Royal College of Art, London, 2003-2005
BA Illustration, (1st ), University of Brighton, Brighton, 1996-1999
Awards
Overall Award Winner, Exeter Contemporary Open, UK, 2014
Jerwood Drawing Prize exhibitor, London (and touring), UK, 2008
Drawing Prize, Graduate Show, Prince’s Drawing School, 2006
Prize for Drawing Excellence, Prince’s Drawing School, 2006
1st, Man Group Drawing Prize, Royal College of Art, 2005
3rd, Man Group Drawing Prize, Royal College of Art, 2004
Residencies
Moritz-Heyman Residency, Pignano, Italy, 2016
Bath Artists' Studios, Bath, UK, 2016
Dumfries House Residency, Scotland, 2014
LIA (Leipzig International Artist Residency Programme), Spinnerei, Leipzig, DE, 2009
Writer in Residence, Permanent Gallery, Permanent Gallery, Brighton, UK, 2007
