In conversation with Penelope Gordon and Ren Eastoe Mackessey
Hosted by Holly Barton at Beer Rebellion for Deer in Traffic
30th of December 2025
What drives your practise?
What drives my practise is like my interest in photography and fashion photography. Examining my own life, experiences, fashion, intimacy and the self. It has been changing - it was very truthful and direct. Particularly with recreating memories and nostalgia whereas now it’s more fashion photography and the mind. I’m definitely experimenting with the idea of like fantasy practise - not lifting paintings from my own life, im creating the stories.
My work definitely traverses memory and glamour, often i examine sex and intimacy. i like creating a body of work that reads like a moderns girl's guide to love sex and death.
i definitely worship fashion and women above all, interweaving visual poetry and emotional experience with drama and comedy.
What has been the most successful piece/ favourite piece:
At the minute I’m big into horses and playing with that in a way. I think it’s something about the freedom and unrestrainedness of them but like they aren’t even like that in reality. They don’t even get to be like that which is sad. I love horses though and I’ve got a big big horse painting in the works. I’m also experimenting with a more muted palette but those are my motifs at the moment!
Your instagram handle is Babeatron 3000, tell me why you chose this name:
It's my alter ego. it embodies the city: louder, sharper, more performative - while penelope remains introspective, nostalgic and emotionally raw. i use this split functions as both narrative and method, reflecting the tension between innocence and experience, solitude and spectacle. My work is ultimately about becoming - holding multiple selves at once and allowing them to coexist.
You curated an exhibition recently, tell me more about that:
The rooms exhibit was really fun, it was an exhibition that I curated and worked together about loneliness and looking at different artists and how they interacted with loneliness. Exploring unconventional relationships based off the premise of the fact that loneliness isn’t actually a negative idea. I think it should be more neutral, we look at that lonely space to try and escape it but actually sometimes it’s better to sit in it. But yes I made a film for the exhibition too which was soo fun. When I talk about my practise actually this theme is one that I like figuring out - it’s what centred a lot of my enjoyment in this.
Tell me about your practice?
I think my practise is very much an exploration of play and craft, i specialise in bold colours, playful cartoons and all things nostalgic. my work is driven by a lifelong fascination with the intersection of the cute and creepy - an aesthetic that reflects the emotional complexity of growing up and navigating the world.
What is your favourite piece you've made?
I think my favourite - which is not in the exhibition - but 'mind body and soul' which is a little painting i did which was the first time i really experimented with perspective and like a lot of symbolism in one piece and i just really enjoyed making the most.
What are the main motifs that run through your work?
my creative practise is rooted in my childhood love of arts and crafts, so i use a lot of pastels, gore and more strange themes - definitely a lot of weirdness.
What is the process of your making?
it was kind of flow state, i wasn't really hinking about anything around me, just urges that kept building and building.
Penelope Gordon and Ren Eastoe Mackessey's show was on display at Beer Rebellion from the 30th of December 2025 until the 30th of January 2026.
Private view 7:30pm 30/12/2025
Beer Rebellion, 129 Queen’s Rd, London, SE15 2ND
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