Arcadia Contemporary is proud to present “Nocturnal Children,” a solo exhibition by Stephen Mackey, on view from January 11, 2025, to February 2, 2025. This marks Mackey’s fifth solo exhibition with the gallery and will feature 13 new oil paintings that continue his exploration of the surreal and ethereal.
Mackey’s work occupies a liminal space between dream and reality, where beauty and unease intertwine. His fairytale-like scenes seem to emerge from the pages of an ancient, forgotten storybook—with narratives that feel too dark for innocent ears. With a visual language reminiscent of 17th- and 18th-century European art, Mackey conjures an uncanny world steeped in mystery. “I think the style I use for my painting is inherently otherworldly,” Mackey explains. “I taught myself to paint using the work of 17th- and 18th-century painters as a model. Their realism simulates reality rather than recording it like a camera, creating a kind of analogue of the world which, I always think, looks so self-contained that
