BORN: Guildford (1981)
LIVES AND WORKS : Surrey
EDUCATION: University of the Creative Arts
EXHIBITIONS: Wimbledon Art Fair (2017), The Wallace Collection (2017), Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year (2017), Portrait 16 (2016), ArtGemini Prize (2015)
AWARDS: London Contemporary Art Prize (2017)
After moving to Umbria, Italy, in 2005 with a rucksack of art supplies, Emma was taken under the wing of the artist and film director Lorenzo Fonda. Here, in the High Renaissance painter Raphael’s Perugian studio, amidst “a haze of red wine, opera, nudity, oil paint and photography”, she rediscovered her love for figurative art. Upon her return to England, Emma appeared as a contestant on Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year, painting the film star Richard E. Grant. Her work is also owned by the British Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies and has been praised by the interior design expert and TV presenter Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, who called it “exciting” and “energising”. Her Afterglow series was created during an intense period of self-reflection and discovery. Refreshingly honest about her battle with depression, Emma channels her emotions into each of her artworks and paints with no clear narrative in mind. Her process is sensual: she loves the feeling of oil paint between her fingers, and the illicitness of photographing in complete darkness. Emma says: “There’s this wonderful intimacy. When you’re in the dark, it’s like a warm blanket: you feel safe, but also it feels a little bit dangerous, a little bit naughty. The idea is that it’s exposing a moment of yourself. It’s bigger than you, it’s celestial, it’s saying: “Here I am, this is me.””
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