Artist of the Week

Daniel MacCarthy

January 3, 2026

Working primarily in painting Daniel MacCarthy (1986 Oxford) uses ambiguous figurative scenes as a tool to reassess our relationship with nature. Concerned with the power of allegorical imagery to obliquely convey a message whilst capturing the essential chaos and unknowability of the world. Attempting to re-arrange our common assumptions regarding nature and society, MacCarthy’s voice is both tender and urgent, sardonic and earnest, despairing and hopeful in its search for meaning within the tangled complexity and indifference of nature. Daniel MacCarthy (b.1986) studied History at the University of Sussex 2005-8 and then completed the post-grad Drawing year at Royal Drawing School in 2011. He then studied at Turps Studio Programme in 2019-20 after which he returned to his native Welsh borders. Recent shows include Strange Heart Beating at JGM Gallery, a two man show with the Australian modernist Sidney Nolan, London, CANOPY- Canopy Collections, 14 Cavendish Sq. London, and Stage II - curated by LLE - Bay Arts, Cardiff.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
I’m a painter, I live on the Welsh borders with my partner and our son who is 5. He is a pretty good artist and sometimes I feel like he’s showing me up. Sadly, I don’t have that beginner’s mind anymore. Most of my friends are timber framers and carpenters and sometimes I miss the city where I used to live, and all my friends were artists, but out here I can afford a nice studio and the time to be in it which feels important, as does being in nature.

Is there anything you’re working on right now that you’re really excited about?
I’m currently working on some paintings which take as their starting point the Battle of San Romano by Uccello which hangs in the National Gallery in London and the climactic carousel scene from Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train. It’s proving to be abit of an undertaking but I’m excited to see if I can pull it off. It will be included in a group show in London in December so the clock is ticking.

Stop the world i want to get off, (WIP) | 107x228cm | oil on canvas | 2025


How were you introduced to painting?
My Dad is a painter and on his French Mother’s side of the family there were many painters and artists so I have kind of grown up with it around me. I have very early memories of being in his studio and the smell of oil paint and turpentine. He was good at encouraging me when I was small and provided me with pastels and big sheets of paper. I sometimes think I may have peaked around that time. The work was very bold and exciting and I had no doubts about the subject matter (mostly robot cowboy aliens).

 

What influences do you think play an essential role in your work?
Living in a time of environmental collapse is a big influence on me I think. I am drawn to plant life and trees and landscapes in a way that has to do with a sort of slow motion grieving process. Slow motion because obviously the challenge with the climate crisis is we can’t necessarily see it happening in real time. I cling to plants, their shapes and colours for the hope I find there. I’m drawn particularly to the kind of hardy weeds which feel like they will outlive humans. They help to remind me that we will probably fall short of completely destroying all life on earth. On my Mother’s side of the family there’s lots of politics and I think in another life I would have been a political or environmental activist.
Narciuss as a young girl | oil on canvas | 107x107cm | 2025


Who do you think is making important work right now?

Important…Probably Peter Doig, as I think he’s been a pivotal figure in the renaissance of figurative art that’s romantic, unironic, even sincere and unashamedly beautiful.
I’d also say Jesse Darling who recently won the Turner Prize, as someone who as well as being a great artist is making work which deals with our current reality. His work feels very vital to me at a time when so much art does not address the world we’re in and therefore has nothing to say for posterity other than as an indication of how distracted and frivolous people were.
 

How has your work evolved over time?
Sometimes I think it’s got better and I get excited about how good it could get. Other times I worry its got worse. But overall its got thicker, slicker and maybe darker…

Leda in marble | oil on canvas | 153x153cm | 2025

Do you find a lot of your work to be historically referential?

Not a lot but definitely some. I studied history as an undergraduate and my research in those formative years often reappears in my subject matter. I studied the rise of environmentalism in the US in my final year, and much of that reading; Thoreau, Emerson, Leopold, Carson etc has resurfaced in my work over the years.


Is there anything you’re reading or watching right now that feels important to what you’re doing?

I’m currently reading Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell which is really resonating. It’s kind of a timeless portrayal of the struggle between survival in a capitalist society and the creative process. It’s about compromise and principles and all those everyday relevant things. I’ve also become abit addicted to The Late Show which I sometimes put on in the background when I’m painting. I think it helps me to deal with all the end times facism currently spewing out of the white house.
Magnolia | Distemper on canvas | 155x122cm | 2020


Your work encompasses a lot of figures. Can you speak on this? Who are they?

I think they are us, humans, when we will have to figure out how to live with and within a natural order that we have disrupted. They’re seeking to remember their primordial origins. What makes us part of nature. At times they might be melancholic or ambivalent like the figure strumming a guitar in swan song.
But hopefully they also convey a sense of the hope that I get from being in nature.


Does your environment influence your work?

Definitely. I live in a pretty rural place. I walk along an old overgrown path by a stream to get to the studio and the town where I live is surrounded by woods and hills.
My friend thinks it’s like twin peaks…without all the freaky murders.
Paris | oil on canvas | 51x41cm | 2025


Do you think your work takes on different contexts when shown in different areas of the world?
I don’t really know. I think once they leave the studio theyre not mine to control any more.  I recently saw some works I sold to a collector in Switzerland and it felt very strange seeing a painting which is of me and my friends in a tree we would sit in in my parents backyard, hanging in a Swiss ski lodge…I guess once you let works go they become another person’s context.

Something there badly not wrong | oil on canvas | 192x135cm | 2021

What was the last show you saw that stuck out to you?
Noah Davis at the Barbican in London. He was a great painter and a tragic loss.
Also Doig at the Serpentine which was an amazing multi sensory experience. And Edward Burra at the Tate.

What is it that you think might initially draw you towards a work of art?
Initially colour and form and shape and line and all those intuitive things which fascinate me about art. But then I’ll stick around longer if there is a narrative or figurative element to keep me hooked.

Swan song | oil on canvas | 122x112cm | 2023

Do you have any rituals when entering the studio?
I put the kettle on and try to avoid looking at the painting I was last working on for as long as I can, and when I do I try to catch it by surprise in the hope of discovering its secrets. Then I stare it out on the couch for a while.

What is something that you’ve always wanted to do and are working towards achieving?
Setting up a space where artists in the rural Welsh borderlands can get together and talk about their work. Maybe teaching. Also talking about my work. I’m starting to do talks as a visiting lecturer at my local art college and I’m hoping it will give me the confidence to speak fluently about what I do and own the experience I have gained through much struggle as an artist.

Can you tell us a memory of someone interacting with your work that frequently crosses your mind?

Probably I would say the response during a tutorial of my mentor at Turps painting school, Anne Ryan, which was, ” stop making paintings and PAINT!” 
Interview conducted and edited by Liam Owings