Milly Peck is a British artist working across drawing, sculpture and installation. Broadly interested in theatre and the stage, and exploring the slip between two and three-dimensions, Peck's work often incorporates the aesthetic qualities of set design to create prop-like constructions that respond to existing urban and architectural features with a particular focus on the everyday, domestic or mundane.
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Much of Peck's work to date uses a modest colour palette creating cartoonish imagery to depict slapstick scenes drawn from the everyday environment. These works explore elements of fakery and imitation to create a sense of staged liveness that offers comedic potential. Demonstrating her interest in theatre, she explored the introduction of lighting into her practice and has drawn from "Foley" (sound effects that are added to films and other media in post-production) as a process for exploring the reproduction of the minute detail of everyday life.
In 2021, Peck was awarded the Bridget Riley Fellowship at the British School at Rome, which had a significant impact on her practice that fed into her subsequent solo show with the gallery 'Front of House'. She continued to explore her interest in set-design, perspective and architecture - notable in the adjustable and temporary feeling of her 'Teatrini' sculptures, the visible backgrounds that replicate theatre backdrops, and their resemblance to architectural model facades - and embraced more fully the three-dimensional and the use of colour. During this period and over lockdown 2020 and 2021, drawing on paper became an increasingly important aspect of Peck's practice. While her drawings continue her interest in the urban everyday, they move away from cartoonish, comedic depictions and towards more intimate rememberings that are attentive in detail.
Peck’s work is often site-specific, responding to existing architectural and historical features whilst negotiating the demands of a location, and working to scale to evoke use. Although she creates imitations, her work poses the possibility of activity and often relates to the body.
Milly Peck (b. 1990, London, UK) lives and works in London, UK. She holds a BFA in Fine art from Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK (2012) and an MA in Sculpture from The Royal College of Art (2016). Awards include: Jerwood Visual Arts Artist Bursary (2018); David Troostwyk/Matt's Gallery Studio Award (2016); Gilbert Bayes Charitable Trust Grant (2016); Villiers David Travel Award (2015); Peel Award (2011).
Peck has been exhibited internationally at galleries and institutions including: East Bristol Contemporary, Bristol, UK; Tintype Gallery, London, UK; Assembly Point, London, UK; Matt’s Gallery, London, UK; Jerwood Space, London, UK; g36, Glasgow, UK; Bluecoat, Liverpool, UK; BALTIC, Newcastle, UK; Thame-Side Studios Gallery, London, UK; VITRINE, Basel, CH; VITRINE Fitzrovia, London, UK; Annarumma Gallery, Naples, IT; Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK; The Royal Standard, Liverpool, UK; The Greenroom, Krakow, PL; Bloc Projects, Sheffield, UK; Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer, UK (2022 & 2023); Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge, UK; Kupfer, London, UK.
Residencies include: The Bridget Riley Fellowship at the British School at Rome, IT (2021); AA2A Artist in Residence, Wimbledon College of Art, London, UK (2013-2014); Artist in Residence, Surbiton High School, London, UK (2013).
Current/forthcoming exhibitions include the Drawing Biennial 2024, Drawing Room, London, UK.
Nadim Abbas, Nicole Bachmann, Edwin Burdis, Kara Chin, Anaïs Comer, Tim Etchells, Jamie Fitzpatrick, Ludovica Gioscia, Katrin Hanusch, Candice Jacobs, Sophie Jung, Rene Matić, Campbell McConnell, Paula Pinho Martins Nacif, Milly Peck, Sam Porritt, Ralph Pritchard, Natasha Rees, Bioni Samp, James Stopforth, and Charlie Godet Thomas.
