Street Artist Mishfit on Femininity in the Contemporary Urban Art Scene
Curated in bubblegum colours and flashes of neon spray paint, Mishfit’s art depicts the feminine body, natural landscapes, and sensory details. While there is a thematic tranquillity about her work, the composition of her art is bloody fierce. Deciding to combine her love of street art and fine art, a lot of Mishfit’s creations are in fact quite oxymoronic. Perhaps the fact that she is a female street artist—a scene that has always been heavily dominated by men—is just another one of the juxtapositions embedded in her work. I had the privilege of talking to Mish Maudsley all about her artwork and experiences as a female urban artist in the contemporary moment.
What does it mean to be an urban artist in the contemporary moment?
Mish has always been into art; photographs exist of her as a toddler with a paintbrush in hand. As she grew older, her art transferred beyond the sketchbooks and onto the streets. Contradicting what we may believe to be an emancipating mode of expression for creators, street art was actually very restrictive. “It was meant to be against the art establishment, but I found it had as many rules as the traditional art scene,” Mish explains. A solution to this problem was to combine fine art and street art in order to create something extremely unique while satisfying both creative cravings.
The restrictive scene that Mish is referring to relates to an earlier moment in time, where Banksy was just beginning to get global recognition and shifted people’s opinions on the street art scene. The naughties were vibrant, and exhilarating but incredibly busy. People were now recognising street art as a legitimate art form, rather than vandalism. The whole scene just exploded with exhibitions, particularly across London. With this came egos. Male egos. As wonderful and supportive as lot of artists were at the time, the egos that dominated the streets were intimidating for Mishfit as a woman in her twenties. She describes simply not being ready for these intense and competitive environments. It is no surprise she felt compressed and restricted rather than developing as an artist.
“Your art isn’t bad for a girl!”
This compliment (in all its back-handed glory) was one way Mish initially felt welcomed onto the street art scene, surrounded by male competitors. It was received as a mark of friendship, admiration even. Now, there are all-women graffiti jams where the environment there is one of nurturing and motivating others. Mish reiterates that she loved being an artist on the streets in the 2000s, but as a shy woman in her early twenties, she simply did not know how to navigate the world in its establishing surge. “Now I know how to hold my own,” she giggles in reflection.
Mish occasionally finds herself at Leake Street under Waterloo, casually painting with an all-girl street art group called WOM Collective. She says in this environment, flourishing is easy. They host graffiti jams once or twice a year where everyone is extremely friendly and encouraging, exemplifying mannerisms for other artists. Female-only groups are just one example of the ways in which the contemporary urban art scene has developed since the booming and blooming days of Banksy.
“With any sector of life, whether it is design or the corporate world, female visibility is improving across the board, thankfully,” Mish asserts. The benefit of this is that there are more role-models. While Mish had a few growing up, today, there are so many more female street artists. The increase can only occur exponentially, “and that can only be a good thing to get more differing female perspectives into any scene or sector.” Thinking further on the development of the urban art scene, she says it is evidently becoming more diverse and therefore more interesting.
Imagery of sex and violence was normalised.
More women in the world of art means that the art is changing too, not just the artists. Mish remembers first starting out in the world of murals, and seeing huge hyper-sexualised images of women. “You do not see that type of thing as much anymore as street art has grown, and continues growing, to be more sophisticated.”
Honing our conversation back to Mishfit’s art, I ask her to elaborate on the statement that her inspiration is the “commonalities that make us human.” The short answer is, our artist is obsessed with big nature: mountains, the sky—specifically clouds and how they make us feel.. “Clouds are a great leveller, aren’t they? They remind us of our smallness and mortality and our connection to the natural world, and for me, they are a reminder of travelling and adventure.” Further, Mish describes the pathetic fallacy of her paintings and the ways in which she can use clouds to convey emotion. One day, a grief stricken friend simply pointed at her painting “The Void” in its thunderous blues and greys and said “that is exactly how I feel.” It is a poignant example of how art can provide an avenue for our feelings. Formations made by colour can be so powerful.
“It is fascinating how personal experiences can shape people’s response.” [There is] ‘an alchemy’ to using paint which fuels my work.”
It was only during the pandemic when Mishfit brought human forms back into her paintings after a period of portraying only surreal clouds and sublime elements. This led to her collection ‘The Lost Embrace’ which represented all the hugs which were not allowed to happen during the coronavirus pandemic. Tapping into shared human experiences allows “as many people as possible to identify with my work”.
On one corner of the easel we have the vast openness of natural utopianism, while on the other is a sensory portrayal of bodies, bringing another contrasting dynamic to her paintings. Except the magical fantasy of her elements plus the tangible themes do not clash; they portray a dreamscape sigh. If only the swirls of blue and pink could become a portal of somewhere surreal yet wonderful to escape to. Above all, the magic of colour generates an incredible aestheticism. The colours are something of an illusion to hypnotise the observer and draw you into the soft bubblegum hues, combined with the paradoxical and dramatic geometric shapes.
“These contrasts are what keep the eye interested and intrigued, dancing around the canvas.”
Personally, I love the sensual and sexual aura of “Bubblegum Apocalypse”. Portrayed are lovely long limbs, or a lip bite emerging from a chaotic storm cloud. “I love the female form, I love painting the female form” Mish states when I ask her whether this collection was intentionally about the female experience. Continuing, she explains the importance of painting the female gaze for the female gaze and there is something bold and powerful in that. Even when they are off in a daydream, the crafted figures are assuring the viewer “I am here and I am strong”. Again, Mish contributes to flipping art narratives by ensuring her women aren’t also painted in a submissive position. There is something cheeky and suggestive about the collection, while remaining classy. Because what is more sexy-chic than a cloud bikini censoring acrylic nipples?
In considering her current relationship to painting on the street, Mish decides that her fine art practice does not slip into her murals enough. She would love to experiment more with drips, and is in a constant state of flux as to how to get more dynamic mark-making into her work on the street using just spray paint. To me, this sounds like the ideal starting point challenge to establish Mish’s next artistic adventure.
Visually, the largest difference between her art on the street versus art on the canvas is that her murals tend to focus on portraiture for maximum impact. “I have started to align my street art and my fine art over the last few years”, she progresses, “so the clouds have started to feature more in my street art because I want a more unified look across both bodies of my work”. This unique wedding of the two bodies is something which Mish describes as constantly evolving. “Behind the scenes, artists are questioning what they do all the time. The playing and the experimenting may never be seen.” Deciding where to take her art is an evolution —one in which Mish is delicately planting in the soil, allowing the blossom to grow rather than fearing the leaves turning brown.
In terms of what is next for Mishfit, keep your eyes peeled for her work at art fairs and galleries in London & Brighton and across the UK, including the amazing Colors Festival that’s just opened in Camden and the Other Art Fair later this Autumn at the Truman Brewery. Or you may just stumble across her painting on a very large wall. She is currently thriving in a state of confidence in herself, as well as confidence in her skills and painting. With that, great future creations can only be guaranteed.
To discover or purchase Mishfit art online visit mishfit.com/ and follow @mishfit_art on Instagram.