At home with Maggi Hambling, the original ‘bad girl’ of British art
When I see the car number plate ending in “GAY,” I know I’m in the right place.
Pulling up to a pretty cottage in rural Suffolk, the statement two-tone Chrysler on the gravel driveway is a tell-tale sign that the owner is artist Maggi Hambling.
She duly emerges from her “junky garage”-turned-studio in instantly recognizable style — her nest of grey hair characteristically bouffant, her eyelashes clumpily coated in mascara, wearing a padded black gilet on top of an oversized white shirt. It’s a look that’s become synonymous with her reputation of being “the original bad girl of British art,” a “queer icon” and a “controversial figure.”
When I see the car number plate ending in “GAY,” I know I’m in the right place. Pulling up to a pretty cottage in rural Suffolk, the statement two-tone Chrysler on the gravel driveway is a tell-tale sign that the owner is artist Maggi Hambling. She duly emerges from her “junky garage”-turned-studio in instantly recognizable…