Anonymous artist James McQueen returns to London with a new solo exhibition, A Beautiful Waste of Time, just opened at Halcyon Gallery in Mayfair.
The exhibition brings together a new body of work in which McQueen continues his distinctive practice of transforming vintage book covers into bold, satirical paintings. Drawing on the visual language of mid-century paperback design, the works reimagine familiar formats originally created for quick consumption, turning them into layered and materially rich artworks.
Across the exhibition, McQueen’s recognisable text-based titles appear alongside new phrases drawn from personal experience, popular culture and dark humour. The works combine confrontational wit with themes of love, vulnerability, hope and defiance — recurring ideas in the artist’s ongoing exploration of authenticity and self-expression.
Art history also plays an increasing role in the new works. References to figures such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Yayoi Kusama, Banksy, Damien Hirst, Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana and Takashi Murakami are folded into the graphic language of the book cover format, filtered through McQueen’s gestural painting process.
Technically, the works are built through dense layers of paint that are repeatedly sanded down to reveal traces beneath the surface. The resulting textures echo the wear and tear of well-handled books — complete with scuffed corners, fingerprints, stains and faded colours. Often finished with lacquer, the surfaces retain both depth and vibrancy while referencing the passage of time embedded in the objects themselves.
By focusing on books not as pristine objects but as items marked by years of handling and annotation, McQueen emphasises the way cultural artefacts accumulate history. The paintings capture the physical evidence of reading: tea stains, dog-eared pages, scribbles and the soft erosion of paper edges.
McQueen has remained deliberately anonymous since beginning to exhibit under a pseudonym in 2017. As the artist explains:
“Keeping behind the mask enables me to enjoy the creative process without being concerned about praise or recognition. I enjoy what I do and don’t want that to change or to be changed through judgement. I want my art to speak for itself.”
With A Beautiful Waste of Time, McQueen continues to blend pop culture, art history and satire, transforming nostalgic visual forms into contemporary reflections on identity, authenticity and cultural memory.
A Beautiful Waste of Time is open at Halcyon Gallery, 148 New Bond Street, London W1S
2RL. The Exhibition is free to enter and open daily.
About the artist
Born in 1977, James McQueen is a British artist based in the United Kingdom. Operating under a pseudonym, he has created paintings publicly as James McQueen since 2017.
His literary-inspired paintings are rooted in the Pop Art of the mid-1950s and 60s. McQueen’s art appropriates the design and branding of an inexpensive, mass-produced and consumed product to echo Andy Warhol’s appropriated imagery in the Campbell’s Soup paintings. Like Warhol, McQueen celebrates the everyday product by making these book covers monumental and vibrant.
The impact of these works is not only visual but conceptual. McQueen communicates a variety of messages through the titles of his paintings and their carefully selected typography. Frequently, their tone is provocative, comic and cynical. While humour is a key feature of his work, McQueen has also used his paintings for social and political comment, responding to what is current and popular on the national and international scene, from climate change and the NHS to football and James Bond. @jamesmcqueenart
