Title: Man in the Machine

Year: 2024

Media: Pencil on 300gsm paper

Size: 38 x 26.5 x 0.1 cm

About the work: ‘Man in the Machine’ represents the alchemist’s quest for the elixir of life – of everlasting immortality. This subject is at the forefront of many discussions today regarding consciousness, technological mind uploading, and biohacking. Consciousness is here represented by the face of smoke, emerging from the bottle.

Bio: Hannah Bays (b.1982) is a London based painter who graduated from the Royal Academy Schools, London, 2015.

Recent exhibitions include: I’m Not Afraid of Ghosts, Palazzo Tiepolo Passi, Venice, Italy, 2024; ABG Emerging, Alice Black Gallery, London, 2024; Night Walk, (solo exhibition), Asylum, Suffolk, 2023; Muscle Beach, Kupfer Projects, London, 2021 (two-person exhibition); Modern Love Vol. 4, San Antonio Abad, Mexico City, 2020; Where we are, Mercer’s Hall, London, UK, 2020.

Residencies include Malevich, Lake Como, 2021; Dover Arts Club Drawing Room Residency, 2020; Eton College Artist in Residence, 2018. 

Bays has work in a number of international collections.