Fleur Yearsley
Public Intimacy
11 October to 6 December 2025
Opening: Saturday 11 October 3 - 8pm
“Love the world and yourself in it, move through it as though it offers no resistance, as though the world is your natural element”
- The Time Travellerʼs Wife Audrey Niffeneger
SCHOOL is pleased to present Public Intimacy, an immersive exhibition by Fleur Yearsley. The focal point of the exhibition is the painting Dusk till Dawn 2025, a diptych spanning 3 meters , Yearsleyʼs most ambitious to date. This is accompanied by Tell Me If Someoneʼs Coming 2024, another large scale painting. Both capture intimate moments through a playful lens, delivered by Yearsley with tenderness. Additional smaller paintings, a vivacious leopard print rug, a sofa re-upholstered with sports apparel accompany these works, all under the nostalgic glow of a working disco ball, re-covered by the artist in a denim mosaic. Yearsley aims to place visitors within the scenes, not as active voyeurs but as experiential participants of her work.
Nostalgia plays a huge part in Public Intimacy and within Yearsleyʼs practice in general. Depending on age demographics there are different nostalgic perspectiveʼs to consider. An older person is more likely to look back, yearning for a distant youth, for timeʼs past, events and experiences that only remain as memories. A younger person may experience the past through the way it is influencing their present, more in the moment and progressive, leaving them free from sentiment and romantic gesturing. Whether reflective or progressive, Yearsley approaches all her subjects with warmth, bringing joy and playfulness to social experienceʼs and placing the viewer at the centre of the party.
Fleur Yearsley is a visual artist based in Manchester, UK. Working across painting and installation, her practice explores memory, gender and pop culture. With bold, immersive works, she reframes classic painting motifs using a contemporary lens. Her process balances immediacy and openness with playful refinement and a vibrant sensibility. Grounded in everyday experiences from parks, pubs and clubs to intimate moments like getting a wax or peeing behind a bin on a night out, her work reflects on social expectations and Northern grit. By capturing moments both candid and tender, her work creates space for connection, recognition and humour - offering a sense of belonging in an increasingly polarised world.
Yearsley holds an MFA in Fine Art from the Slade School of Fine Art (2017), supported by the Gwen John Scholarship. Her painting To The Moon and Back was selected for the John Moores Painting Prize 2020. She has exhibited internationally, including at GNYP Gallery (Berlin), HOME (Manchester) and the Royal Academy of Arts (London), with solo presentations at Sapling Gallery (London) and The Manchester Contemporary (2022).
A recipient of multiple awards, including the Eaton Fund Grant (2024), Haworth Trust Scholarship (2022), the Jealous Prize (2018) and the Almacantar Award (2017), Yearsley is represented by School Gallery (Folkestone).