Creating work which draws so much influence from old masters such as Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Eugène Delacroix, suspends Lily MacRae's work somewhere in between the past and present. Re-imagining these stories to highlight their power, beauty, and often absurdity, she explores the role they play within a contemporary narrative and the ability they have to deliver a timeless portrayal of humanity.
Drawn to the fleeting nature of the painterly gesture, MacRae uses the process of painting itself as being an act of both excavation and construction. Each painting is an attempt to capture an image within the spontaneous gesture, to encapsulate this feeling of touch and fleeting movement. She produces works that feel timeless as if caught in the movement of a moment.