
Maureen Paley is pleased to present the first solo exhibition at the gallery by Esther Pearl Watson.
Watson, based in Los Angeles, grew up in a series of small towns outside of Dallas, Texas with her siblings, mother, and flying saucer-building father, Gene, who aspired to influencing NASA with his prototypes.
Her father and the nomadic aspects of her childhood inspire her series of ‘memory paintings’. She creates pictures on board and paper depicting farmland, highways, oil rigs, payday loan storefronts, playgrounds and parking lots. They each contain a brief diaristic description enscribed on the corner of the painting as well as her ubiquitous flying saucers which illuminate the scenes.
Esther Pearl Watson lives and works in Los Angeles, USA. Her paintings have been exhibited worldwide, including the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, USA (2015). In 2013 she was Artist-in-Residence at Grafikiens Hus, Mariefred, Sweden. Her award-winning comic Unlovable is published in Bust Magazine and with Fantagraphics. She has published Blood Lady Commandos on Vice online and Welcome to Crapland on Adult Swim online. She has taught at Oxbow Artist Residency, The Lexicon of Sexicana at Columbia College in Chicago, and is currently teaching at ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, California.













The gallery programme began in 1984 in a Victorian terraced house in London’s East End. Initially named Interim Art the gallery changed its name to Maureen Paley in 2004 as a celebration of its 20th anniversary. Since September 1999 the gallery has been situated in light industrial space in Bethnal Green. In July 2017 Maureen Paley opened a second space in Hove called Morena di Luna. In October 2020 a third space was opened in London called STUDIO M. From its inception the gallery’s aim has remained consistent: to promote great and innovative artists in all media.

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