This spring, on Saturday 28th March, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art opens a major exhibition celebrating the work of the late British artist Milly Thompson, whose bold, witty and pleasure-driven practice remains strikingly relevant today.
Titled ‘My Body Temperature is Feeling Good’, the exhibition brings together works created over the last decade, spanning painting, sculpture, video and text. Thompson’s art is unapologetically indulgent, filled with saturated colour, languid bodies and sun-drenched scenes. Yet beneath the surface lies a sharp, often humorous critique of consumer culture, beauty standards, and the ways in which women’s bodies are perceived, used and valued.
Best known as a founding member of the influential collective BANK, Thompson’s solo work evolved into something distinctly her own: playful, irreverent and politically alert, without ever losing its sense of joy. Her paintings frequently centre middle-aged female bodies, offering a rare counterpoint to the art world’s obsession with youth and polish.
Iconic works such as ‘Hunter Watching the Beach’ (2016) and ‘La Vergne in the Afternoon’ (2017) capture Thompson’s signature mix of irony and sincerity, while later pieces, including ‘Temple Creation’ (2020) and ‘Scuba Sauvage Azure Bleu’ (2021), move into looser, more experimental territory. Fluid ink washes and emoji-like symbols emerge, opening new ways of considering beauty, pleasure and contemporary visual language.
Accompanied by a new publication featuring reflections from collaborators and friends, ‘My Body Temperature is Feeling Good’ is a celebration, but also an invitation to slow down, absorb, and reconsider what power, pleasure and visibility can look like.
For further information, head to Baltic.art.
