Manx artist Will Maddrell has announced their first international solo show which will be held in France this weekend.

The works in this exhibition, titled ‘Annual Leave Is Slippery Whilst The Floor Is Wet’, were made as part of a summer residency programme in the Loire Valley in France, as well as at Maddrell’s personal studio in London.

Taking inspiration from the Loire Valley’s rich history as a haven for artists, Maddrell creates a character that embodies this tradition: an old master painter who has come to the region for annual leave.

Through this character, Maddrell explores rest, relaxation and pleasure and the relationships of these to creative labour.

A spokesperson from the General Assembly art group, who are presenting the show and who organised the summer residency programme, said: ‘Maddrell utilised their time in the Loire to deepen their performance art practice, and the connection between this to their paintings.

‘Depictions of water are a recurring metaphor in Maddrell’s work, and indeed the works in this exhibition. The artist takes inspiration from water in pastoral scenes, as well as where it plays an incidental or implied role. For Maddrell, water’s mutability bears a direct relation to the traits that they are exploring through the performance art character.

‘There is also an intellectual slip that is occurring. Just as the physical body can fall, old ideas and self-conceptions are also vulnerable to a slippery floor. The character in these works takes respite from a busy life, but also from ego-driven modes of living that hinder true connection to one’s self.

‘For Maddrell, a key to this physical and intellectual freedom is a painter’s most vital tool: the brush. In a series of intimate paintings, the artist depicts these tools veiled under a sheet of silk, or aflame in the grass as in the painting “In Full Focus: Oops! We Can’t Find What You are Looking For...404 Error!”.

‘Their paintbrush compositions are sensuous and energetic. The artist’s decision to elevate the artist’s tools reveals a reverence for the creative process, and a deep consideration for the responsibilities of an image maker.’

Will was born in the Isle of Man in 1997, growing up in the island before studying Modern Languages at the University of Bristol.

Their first solo show, ‘Saltwater Rain’, opened in 2023 with General Assembly in London.

Will’s artist story for the new exhibition reads: ‘Feeling stuck on the production line of city life, the old master is leaving her shift at the culture factory, where she makes paint in huge metal vats. On the journey home, she gets caught in the rain. She stops and thinks – I need a holiday!

‘Looking for a painterly retreat, she packs a bag of carefully curated clothes and accessories she found only yesterday on eBay and Vinted, and jets away to the Loire Valley in France.’

‘Annual Leave is Slippery Whilst the Floor is Wet’ opens at Chateau Belebat on October 20. The exhibition runs until November 20 and is open to the public.