Lot 99 - Fleur Yearsley - Box Fresh

Soft pastel, graphite, and ink on paper
2024
A6 (10x15cm)
Original Artwork
Signed on Verso
Curated by Marta Marsicka

About
Fleur Yearsley is a visual artist based in Manchester, UK. Her work explores themes of memory, humour, gender, and unfolding narratives, often drawing on pop culture to create a relatable connection with the viewer.

Offering a fresh, immersive perspective, Yearsley reclaims the tradition of ‘the gaze’, which has historically objectified women in the Western canon of art, shifting the power dynamic. She engages viewers, inviting them into her approachable paintings to reflect on how they perceive the subjects and their own role in the act of looking. Her process is characterised by immediacy and openness, balanced with playful refinement and a colourful sensibility.

Through a diverse range of gestural actions, hard edges, and flat colours, she infuses her work with energy and a sense of vibration. Yearsley’s paintings resonate like a generational anthem, addressing concepts of high and low brow culture, everyday life, urban environments and social norms.

Education
2015-2017
MFA in Fine Art, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London, UK

2010-2013
BA (Hons) Fine Art, Manchester School of Art, MMU, Manchester, UK

Solo Exhibitions
2023
Breathing is Free, The Edge Gallery, UK

2022
ONE MORE TUNE, The Manchester Contemporary, UK
Coming Up, Ruslan Faraev Institute of Art, UK

2021
When The Lights Go Up (Curated by Julia Lucero), Sapling Gallery, UK

Group Exhibitions
2025

A Day In The Life, School Gallery, UK

2024
Input/Output, Paradise Works, UK
Shifting Sands, Saan1, UK
Manchester Open, HOME, UK

2023
In The Membrane, Paradise Works, UK
OPEN, Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre, UK
NSFW, Smolensky Gallery, UK
Unity, Smolensky Gallery, UK

2022
Things Fall Apart, Paradise Works, UK
Bankley Open, Bankley Gallery, UK

2021
SLAP-BANG, Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival (Curated by Short Supply), Castlefield Gallery's New Art Space, UK
Anything Goes, Aatma, UK

2020
John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, UK

2019
GIFC & Velvet Ropes, House of Vans, UK
Bow Open Show, Nunnery Gallery, UK
Isolation Association, Art In The Docks, UK

2018
Desires, GNYP Gallery, Germany
Original London Print Fair, Royal Academy of Arts, UK

2017
Paper Cuts, Tripp Gallery, UK
BUFF, Slade Summer Residency, UK
Slade Graduate Degree Show, Slade School of Fine Art, UK

2015
The Windshow Drawing, Camden People's Theatre, UK

2014
OBSESSION: Love, Ritual, Collection, Embassy Tea Gallery, UK

2013
We Are All Explorers, Manchester School of Art, UK

Awards
2024
Shortlisted ‘Macfarlanes Art Prize’
Shortlisted ‘Clyde & Co Art Prize’

2022
Shortlisted ‘BEEP Painting Prize’

2021
Winner ‘Repaint History Prize for Womxn Artists’

2016
Shortlisted ‘Blooom Award, by Warsteiner’

2016
Shortlisted ‘Taking Shape Prize’

2014
Shortlisted ‘Young Masters Art Prize’

2014
Shortlisted ‘The Signature Art Prize’

Gallery Representation
Seventeen (London, UK)

Public Collections
V&A Museum Collection (London, UK)

Statement about AOAP Submitted Artwork
‘Queen’ is a hopeful bid for equality in light of International Women’s Day, as Queen Conch shells are seen as lucky. They are a motif that I return to regularly in my work as they are also evocative of the female form.