Poppy Maby is a Bristol and Bath based artist using oil paint to portray strange worlds. Exploring motifs of time, nature and human structures, she paints worlds that sit on the cusp between dreams and nightmares.

Beginning the process with photography, Maby looks for unassuming moments and places, waiting for the perfect image that combines the uncanny with a sense of familiarity. Translating these images in to paint turns a brief moment in to a deliberate narrative. She explores the beauty of mundanity, questioning the juxtaposition between nature and human made objects. 

Colour is a key motif in the work, using high-contrast light and a layer of neon underpainting to make the canvases feel alive. Deep shadows against glowing colour inject a playful tension into the work. Since graduating from Bath Spa University in 2024, Maby has been producing work in her studio at Bath Spa’s Emerge residency.

"This is part of an ongoing body of work based on the 'Purton Hulks' ship graveyard along the River Severn. 86 boats were beached upon the bank to protect it from erosion, decaying in the process. The boats all have a sense of weight from their past lives, years of service forgotten as they start to fade into the landscape. There's also something otherworldly about them; timber burnt, pieces missing from their frame, steel curved like an enormous ribcage. It's the imagery of the ribcage that inspired the title 'Wooden Bones' as I reimagine them as the remains of mythical beasts."