About
Mary Lou Lawless-Gill (b. 2004, London) is a painter working in Manchester. She gained a UAL Extended Diploma in 2022 at The Brit School and then went on to complete a BA (Hons) in Fine Art and Design at Manchester School of Art in 2025.
Her work has been exhibited across Manchester, including Bankley Studios (April 2025) and the Manchester School of Art Degree Show (June 2025), where she was awarded the MAFA Graduate Award for Painting. In 2025, she also participated in the Joya: AiR artist residency in Spain. She currently holds a studio at Bankley Studios.
The people Mary Lou paints are real; we observe people like this in our daily lives. But these people present like an elite club. Mary Lou’s recent paintings explore her fascination with the ‘Beatniks’, a group of writers, poets and artists from 1950’s America who, she feels, may not have fully acknowledged her as a female artist. Mary Lou makes paintings in spite of these people, whom she admires and respects, reflecting on this cultural history through the paradox of an archeological dig, which employs thin, provisional layers to build dusty, airy figurative subjects and spaces. The paintings mimic the way that these artists conjured their own work and the ‘shape’ of their offerings to the world, which constantly moved and journeyed, often at speed, through elongated time.
Email: maryloulawlessgill@gmail.com
Instagram: @maryloulawlessgill
Exhibition History
Oceans Apart, Salford - The Problem With People, November - December 2025
Bankley Studios and Gallery, Manchester - Staged*, November 2025
Texture Gallery Manchester - Three Readings: An exhibition Curated Three Times, October-November 2025
Manchester School of Art - In Bloom, Degree Show, June 2025
Bankley Gallery and Studios, Manchester - Just Paint*, April 2025
The Salutation Pub Manchester Metropolitan University - TAP, February 2025
Saan1 Gallery, Manchester - Oh, to be a Painter! December 2024
Whalley Range Scout Hut, Manchester - And Then I Said the True and Lost and Terrifying Word, April 2024
Brit School, London - Final Project Studio Show, May 2022
Awards and Residencies
MAFA Graduate Award for Painting for recognition of work completed as part of the Manchester School of Art Degree Show, 2025
CastleField Gallery Associates Membership for work completed as part of the Manchester School of Art Degree Show, 2025
Joya: AIR Artist Residency Spain, 2025
Press/Publications
REVIEW Nov 2025 Curation in triplicate at texture, Manchester by Jo Manby https://www.thefourdrinier.com/review-nov-2025-curation-in-triplicate-at-texture-manchester
Education
Manchester Metropolitan University: Manchester School of Art, BA Fine Art, 2022 - 2025
The Brit School, UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma in Creative Practice: Art, Design and Communication, 2020 - 2022
Selected Paintings
I am an English Boy, 35 x 48cm, Oil on Canvas, 2025
Frail Deeds, 48 x 35cm, Oil on Canvas, 2025
Both Free and Bound, Oil Paint on Canvas, 125 x 77cm, 2025
A Distant City, Oil Paint Paint on Canvas, 48 x 35cm, 2025
Poems in Praise of My Husband, Oil Paint on Canvas, 148 x 110cm, 2025
Le Mal, Oil Paint on Canvas, 148 x 110cm, 2025
Revolutionary Letters, Oil Paint on Canvas, 230 x 300cm, 2025
Idiot Wind, Oil Paint on Canvas, 2025, 150 cm x 110 cm
An Intellectual, Oil Paint on Canvas, 150 x 100cm, 2025
Alone Again, Alone, Oil Paint on Canvas 163cm x 124cm 2024.
She Backlights my Dreams, 90 x 115cm Oil Paint on Canvas, 2024
She is the Wind, 90 x 115cm Oil Paint on Canvas, 2024
THE PROBLEM WITH PEOPLE
Oceans Apart Gallery Salford November-December 2025
The Problem with People is an exhibition of 18 painters, focusing on different ways that artists deal with the figure in painting today. The somewhat provocative title refers to the difficulties and challenges often associated with the figure in painting, both in a literal or representational sense, but also in philosophical, ethical and material terms.
The idea of (the) painting – which is not a ‘person’ – performs as a kind of surrogate or stand in for the body. This enables artists to see and re-see themselves through painting, be it through locating the figure inside pictorial space, emphasising the figure beyond the stretcher, notions of the figure with or without a body, the figure as gesture, a shape, a place, an outline, an anthropomorphic object, or through material itself.
Exhibiting artists:
Reece Adair @reeces.peeces__
Keith Ashcroft @keithashcroft
David Ballantyne @cobwebeyes
Andrew Bracey @darthbracey
Kate Dunn @bellissi.mama
Simon Foxall @simon_foxall
David Gledhill @davidgledhillartist
Gareth Griffith @griffith.gareth
Mary Lou Lawless-Gill @maryloulawlessgill
Andrea Medjesi @andrea.medjesijones
Dougal McKenzie @imagehalflife
Paula Newton @paulanewton9
Alex Roberts @alexroberts975
Wayne Robinson #waynerobinson
Luke Skiffington @luke_skiffington
Geraldine Swayne @geraldineswayne
Michael Stubbs @stubbs3198
Mikey Thomas @mikey_c_thomas
Curated by @keithashcroft
THREE READINGS:AN EXHIBITION CURATED THREE TIMES
Texture Gallery Manchester October-November 2025
Within the one exhibition, there are three. The final exhibition at our Ardwick gallery brings together work from three artists, curated three times by three curators - each with their own title and exhibition text. Working from the same group of artworks, each curator re-contextualises their version of the show, drawing out new meanings and exploring alternate relationships between the works.
Curated by Xhi Ndubisi, Bella Probyn, Laura Biddle Exhibiting Artists, Jun Rui Lo, Tulani Hlalo, Mary Lou Lawless-Gill
JUST PAINT*
*A Painting Exhibition
Bankley Studios and Gallery
Manchester
April 2025
It can feel so absurd. Painting, thinking in paint. Quite isolating. When you find people who share this feeling, it’s special. Painting in front of one another, approaching our respective practices with seriousness and gravitas, is a unique relationship. Our friendship was established with a deep sense of sincerity and understanding, bearing our visual languages to one another in the studio through all of its stages.
Just Paint is a testimony to our relationship as three, young, female painters and paintings’ unique ability to bind people together. This show positions our work as something that is accessible, that is not reserved for particular people, shown through how stylistically different our paintings appear. We hope this conversation between the paintings translates our bond and closeness as a trio and imbues the exhibition with a sense of warmth and community.
IN BLOOM: Manchester School of Art Degree Show
Manchester School of Art
June 2025
Art School Commissions
Holden Gallery
Manchester School of Art
June 2025
This exhibition brings together over 60 commissioned students across art and design.
Developed through a commissioning process that mirrors professional practice — open call, pitching, budgeting, and production — the works reflect conceptual ambition, and the ability to navigate the complexities of creating contemporary creative work. This real-world experience equips students with vital professional skills, enhances their employability, and prepares them for diverse careers in the creative industries.
From sculptural interventions and expanded print to immersive environments, painting and speculative design, the exhibition showcases how emerging artists and designers engage with some of the most pressing issues of our time, such as environmental sustainability, social justice, and the evolving role of artificial intelligence. These are explored with curiosity, critique, and care, with many works embracing play as a method of inquiry, inviting audiences to interact, reflect, and imagine alternative futures.
Art School Commissions is a rehearsal for futures in which artists and designers lead with vision, resilience, and responsibility — while gaining invaluable experience that supports their professional development and future employability.
