Rosie Emerson is an award-winning contemporary artist originally from Dorset, she studied and lived in London for 10 years. She now resides on the South Coast and continues to work almost exclusively on representing the female form. Emerson’s figures draw reference from archetypes old and new from Artemis to the modern-day supermodel.
Inspired by her love of museums, architecture, theatre, silhouettes, shrines and rituals, she uses dramatic lighting, hand made costumes, set and prop making alongside printmaking and painting to create her unique style of work. Her work is widely collected and exhibited both in the UK, as well as internationally, through galleries, art fairs and museums. Emerson was also commissioned by Hackney WickED Arts Festival to create a new Guinness World record and create the world’s largest Cyanotype photograph.
Emerson has been commissioned by brands including Sony, Triumph Underwear, Redbull, P&O Cruises, Toms, and Annoushka jewellery working with models Amber le Bon, Daisy Lowe and singer Eliza Doolittle. Her work has also been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Another Magazine, The Financial Times Magazine and The Sunday Times Style Magazine.
Self-taught or art school?
I went to Kingston University and studied Fine Art back in 2004. This is where I fell in love with both collage and printmaking, techniques that are still really important to my work to this day.
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
Ooff hard one maybe an Anselm Keiffer, and then I’d need the right size house to keep it in too!
How would you describe your style?
My style is a mix of the strong graphic qualities of screen printing, which I enjoy contrasting with very delicate techniques like hand-painting, and tactile materials like sawdust, cellophane, or netting. I love playing on this softness, going against the grain of the often sharp and blocky aesthetic of screen print, and instead of enhancing the fragility, bringing out the graininess akin to old newspaper print with charcoal, bronze powders, ash and paint. For me, the fun is always finding this balance between the intricacy and detail of photography, and the energy of painting and mark-making.
Is narrative important within your work?
I quite like a sense of implied narrative in my landscape pieces but mostly with my portraits by stripping away the context and background from my subjects the viewer is able to bring their own story to the work.
Who are your favourite artist and why?
I love mixed media artists who combine painting with a photographic print like Robert Rauschenberg, Sigmar Polke, and Albert Oehlen; beautiful paintings by the Pre-Raphaelites; illustrators like Aubrey Beardsley with their use of negative space and confidence of line as well as fashion icons like Tim Walker, Versace and Alexander McQueen.
What or who inspires your art?
Women are always the heroes of my work, feminine and powerful.
My process is often inspired by the materials I want to play with, I love working with and combining unusual elements like ash, charcoal, salt, or feathers. At other times a happy accident in the studio might inspire a new technique, or a chance element from a print might spark something I want to expand on and bring into my next piece of work. In terms of subject matter, I look to books, magazines, and (when I can) museums and galleries for inspiration. I have books on everything from armour to ballet costume design, kites, shells and flower arranging.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
My studio is at home. It’s a very adaptable space – I have movable worktops so I can wheel them out of the way when I want to set up for a photoshoot. It is full of all my junk (I collect dried flowers, beads, buttons) and there is a lightbox on the wall which I use to help me paint my backgrounds before I print on top. I do my printmaking in Brighton where I use an etching and screenprint studio.
Do you have any studio rituals?
I write a to-do list every day, drink plenty of coffee, and I always have music on when I’m painting.
What am I working on now?
I have just released two new prints Greta and Ava, inspired by the sirens of Hollywood’s golden era, and I’m currently working on three new screen-print releases featuring Sophia Loren, Brigitte Bardot and Nina Mae McKinney to finish the series. I also have several private commissions lined up this year.
Where can we buy your art?
https://www.shop-leontiagallery.com/collections/rosie-emerson
