Mural Proposal for Jeffrey Epstein's New York Townhouse (Filming of American Psycho)

In this painting, Lucy McKenzie shows actor Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman in the film American Psycho, based on the infamous novel by Brett Easton Ellis. He stands naked in the shower while a female film crew looks on.

In this scene, the artist flips the script and perspective: here, it is the character of Bateman – a handsome Wall Street yuppie who leads a secret life as a serial killer – that is being watched, filmed and objectified. The work is inspired by an anecdote from the film director Mary Harron, who told that the female crew members stopped their work to ogle Bale in the shower.

The work emulates the fresco technique of the Mexican muralists like Diego Rivera and is presented as a "proposed mural” for the New York home of Jeffrey Epstein, the businessman and convicted sex offender who operated an international sex-trafficking ring and whose dwelling was revealed to have bizarre wall paintings. Using American Psycho as a reference, McKenzie draws a disturbing parallel between fiction and reality: both Bateman and Epstein used their status and power to disguise their violence.

Mural Proposal for Jeffrey Epstein's New York Townhouse uses the visual language of the political left to depict the excesses of male power and violence under capitalism. The work questions how images are created, who makes them, and who controls the narrative. McKenzie's pictorial style invites you to look, but what comes into view is anything but comfortable.