Bianca MacCall

Bianca MacCall's art lies in capturing the moment that almost slips by unnoticed. Across paintings full of warmth and humour, the British artist renders everyday life with a familiarity that quickly tips into the uncanny.

Everyday life on the edge of a dream

The scenes MacCall paints are drawn from real, instantly recognisable places. But there's always a detail that jars slightly, a plastic chair left out of place, a row of identical pints, a surprisingly tender gesture from a hard-looking man. That small shift is enough to tip the ordinary into the dreamlike, like a half-remembered memory.

Whether the view is from the street, a train window or a car windscreen, the viewer is always moving through their surroundings, caught up in the quiet detritus of urban life. In her new series, While It's Nice Out, MacCall turns her attention to the rituals of the British summer, from idle moments to the strange theatre of public life, captured with humour and nostalgia. She spoke about it in an interview, where she reflects with a firmly documentary eye on the season's quirks. "The best moments have a touch of the surreal or the odd," she says. "They're familiar, but just unsettling enough to make you want to look twice."

Training and recognition

MacCall graduated from Arts University Bournemouth in 2015 with a BA in Illustration, quickly gaining recognition through several awards. She won the Under 25's Ironstone Art Prize in 2016, the Bath Society of Artists Under 25's Prize in 2017, and the Alan Cassé Print Prize in 2019. Her work is now held in private collections across the UK, Paris and Hong Kong.