Annual Leave is Slippery Whilst the Floor is Wet: Will Maddrell

General Assembly is pleased to present Will Maddrell’s first international solo presentation, Annual Leave Is Slippery Whilst The Floor Is Wet. The works in this exhibition were made as part of General Assembly’s summer residency programme in the Loire Valley, France, as well as at Maddrell’s studio in London. Maddrell utilised their time in the Loire to deepen their performance art practice, and the connection between this to their paintings. Taking inspiration from the Loire Valley’s rich history as a haven for artists, Maddrell creates a character that embodies this tradition: an old master painter who has come to the region for annual leave. Through this character, Maddrell explores rest, relaxation and pleasure and the relationships of these to creative labour.

Depictions of water are a recurring metaphor in Maddrell’s work, and indeed the works in this exhibition. The artist takes inspiration from water in pastoral scenes, as reflected in ‘Old Master Performance Artists Throwing Buckets of Water/Paint at One Another’, as well as where it plays an incidental or implied role, such as in ‘Attention: Glissant Lorsqu’il est Mouillé (Caution: Wet Floor)’. For Maddrell, water’s mutability bears a direct relation to the traits that they are exploring through the performance art character. 

There is also an intellectual slip that is occurring. Just as the physical body can fall, old ideas and self-conceptions are also vulnerable to a slippery floor. The character in these works takes respite from a busy life, but also from ego-driven modes of living that hinder true connection to one’s self. Old ideas slip away, and new ones begin to form.

For Maddrell, a key to this physical and intellectual freedom is a painter’s most vital tool: the brush. In a series of intimate paintings, the artist depicts these tools veiled under a sheet of silk, or aflame in the grass as in the painting ‘In Full Focus: Oops! We Can’t Find What You are Looking For...404 Error!’. Maddrell’s paintbrush compositions are sensuous and energetic. The artist’s decision to elevate the artist’s tools reveals a reverence for the creative process, and a deep consideration for the responsibilities of an image maker. 

It is with the paintbrush that Maddrell can embody the old master character. The paintbrush allows the artist to translate scenes from their mind’s eye to an image on canvas. But more than the image, it is the knowledge and wisdom of the old master that become key guides for the artist. This rendering of the old master teaches Maddrell the importance of physical and intellectual openness. The visual representation becomes a physical sensation. Maddrell is creating the image, but also becoming it.