Poker Face, 2024
Marker on cardboard
9 x 12 in
Lucy Walsh was born in Chicago in 1998. Most inspired by popular culture, her influences span television, fashion, music, fast food, and horror tropes. Particularly drawn to slasher films, she mentions It, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th as favorites. Walsh usually works quickly from memory and imagination, but will also sometimes incorporate elements from reference imagery. Accentuated by meandering lines that form organic shapes and vibrant, whimsical patterns, her paintings and drawings waver between abstraction and representational.
Recent series of mixed media works are created by layering cardboard, then embellishing the surface with her characteristic, pattern-based colored pencil drawings. This body of work is directly inspired by using cardboard as a recycled ubiquitous (and highly accessible) material, in the interest of a sustainable future for her community amid the climate crisis. Walsh often also works in sketchbooks, preferring the portable format, with each representing distinct series of drawings. She also spends time writing fictional mystery/horror stories, citing Stephen King as an inspiration.