15 Questions with... Lily Bunney
Welcome to 15 Questions With…, an interview series in which art writer Gary Grimes picks the brains of artists, curators and other creatives to understand what makes them tick through a series of quick-fire questions. This series aims to showcase the varying approaches creatives take to making art and how their relationships to the so-called art world differ, but also reveal what unifies those responsible for the art we love.
Lily Bunney is a London-based artist whose work explores the intersection of vulnerability and digital consumption. Bunney’s pointillist drawings play with the analogue and the digital, offering work which looks hyper-digital on the screen and tactile in person. Her practice investigates how we construct and witness our own stories in an age of overwhelming narrative abundance, particularly examining the ways we use social media and popular culture.
She has previously exhibited in spaces such as the Basel Social Club, Saatchi Gallery and Guts Gallery, amongst others. In October 2026, Bunney participated in a group show curated by the artist Corbin Shaw, titled Feast of Fools, at The Groucho Club in Soho, London. The show opened during Frieze Week and also includes art by Shaw himself and artists including Danny Ische-Knoblauch, Alex Morante and Doron Beuns. It remains on view through November 14, 2026.
1. What is your earliest memory of a work of art?
My mum had a lot of pictures of art up in my house growing up, lots of paintings - I think a Monet print - but I have a distinct memory of my mum coming into my primary school to talk to my class about art, and her telling us about Marc Quinn casting his head out of his own blood and the work melting when a freezer with it in accidentally got turned off.
2. What do you like to do when you need to take a break from your practice?
I like to go around central London with my friends, play Dungeons and Dragons, and read a lot.
3. Who is your favourite artist?
Bruegel the Elder or Goya, classically. It’s hard to pick from contemporary art because there is a lot to love!
4. What's the biggest crime an artist can commit?
Being elitist.
5. Which gallery or museum should everyone try to visit at least once in their life?
Maybe Museum Dr Guislain Gent in Belgium. It’s a museum based in an old psychiatric hospital which exhibits contemporary art and an archive of the history of the hospital (and the treatment of mental health more generally). When I went years ago, there was a new psychiatric hospital open on the grounds, so the museum visitors were either art lovers or people waiting for treatment in the hospital. A lot of art spaces and museums can feel very static and removed from the world, but this one felt alive.
6. What is the worst thing about the art world?
The economics- understanding how people make money and how to protect yourself financially is both a minefield and a bit of a taboo.
7. Whose opinions on art do you actually care about?
My friends.
8. What trend in art makes you roll your eyes?
Not really, I like to think there is an audience out there for everything.
9. Who are the last three musical artists you listened to?
Underscores, Fakemink, Shakira.
10. What's your favourite colour and why?
At the moment, quinacridone magenta. It's a great, vibrant, artificial pink, and I also love how long the name is. You can use it instead of cadmium red to get some really nice artificial-looking browns.
11. What three items would you grab if your house was burning down?
My laptop, my childhood toy, my winter coats.
12. Is there an artistic skill you wish you were better at?
Maybe painting!
13. What can you tell us about your work in Feast of Fools that's currently on view at The Groucho Club?
I’ve been working with these photos of yogis doing yoga on horses. I find the images both camp and absurdist, but also troubling and a bit repulsive. I also painted an influencer hugging a horse for the Minor Attractions art fair with The Fores Project. I see the paintings as companions to a larger story. I remember growing up there was this narrative around horses being almost spiritual companions, specifically for girls - I’m not sure where it came from. They’re just animals that seem to hold a lot of symbolic potential, and I guess I wanted to try and tap into that. When Corbin approached me for the show, I felt like the work made so much sense. It had this whimsical energy to it.
14. Which element of the piece in the show took the longest to perfect and why?
The whole thing just took quite a while, but the whites of paintings are always the worst part.
15. What impression do you hope people get after seeing your piece?
I named it ‘influencer doing a backbend in a horse’ to hopefully locate it in a certain subsection of images you would find online, but I like to leave space for the viewer to decide how they feel about that subsection of the world.
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