Isaac Lythgoe: Everyone’s a bad guy

Isaac Lythgoe (b.1989, Guernsey) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Paris. Lythgoe’s work employs ideas from narrative and storytelling traditions to explore how prospective technologies may influence our future societal structures. His research focuses on notions of conflated power structures, current affairs, science fiction and theory, and these ideas translate into complex, allegorical works. Lythgoe’s practice is world-building, and as such, his works interrelate and self-reference in order to emphasise these core themes. Characters are borrowed or reinvented, intertwined with modern myths and each other, reflecting the intangibility of self in contemporary society and seeks out ways in which we can relate to the vastness of modern industry; its motivations, corruptions and future potentials. Lythgoe holds a BA in Painting from Wimbledon College of Art (2014) and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art (2014). 

Solo shows include an upcoming exhibition at Duarte Sequeira, Seoul (2024); ‘Sentient beings living worthwhile lives’, Galerie Duarte Sequeira, Braga (2022); FRIEZE solo booth, Super Dakota, London (2021); ‘Railway Spine’, Super Dakota, Brussels (2020); LISTE Art Fair solo booth, Super Dakota, Basel (2019);‘Friend of a Friend’, Piktogram, Warsaw, (2019); ‘Smell Summer Rain’, Galleria Fran Reus, Palma (2018); ‘Independent Brussels’, EXO EXO, Paris, (2018);‘Janus’, Exo Exo, Paris (2017); ‘5225 Figueroa Mountain Road’, Almanac, London (2016); ‘I am getting sicker’, Almanac Inn, Turin (2015); ‘Foyer Gras’, Candie Museum, Guernsey (2014). 

His works have been featured in group exhibitions at Somerset House, London (2024); FRAC, Corsica (2024); Suzanne Tarasieve, Paris (2024); MUDAM Luxembourg, Luxembourg (2023); Super Dakota, Brussels (2023); Palazzo San Giuseppe, Polignano Mare (2023); Klaipeda Cultural Communication Centre, Klaipeda (2023); Final Hot Desert, London (2023); Soft Commodity, London (2023); Seventeen Gallery, London (2022); Medusa, Brussels (2022); Pact, Paris (2022); Fondation Fiminco, Paris (2022); Cite Des Arts Internationale, Paris (2022); Hannah Barry Gallery, London (2021); Super Dakota, Brussels (2021); Liebart Projects, Kortrijk (2021); Piktogram, Warsaw (2020); Noah Klink, Berlin (2020); Berthold Pott, Cologne (2020); V.O Curations, London (2019); National Portrait Gallery, London (2018); Ginny Projects, London (2018); The Cabin, Los Angeles (2016);Galerie Hussenot, Paris (2016).