Rosie Emerson is an award winning contemporary artist from the UK, creating unapologetically feminine works on paper. Emerson’s figures draw reference from archetypes old and new, elevating her subjects to a goddess-like status.
Inspired by her love of theatre, performance and shrines she uses lighting, costumes, set and prop making, alongside printmaking and painting to create otherworldly one-off pieces. Her creations stem from an exploration of the surface level, both physically and metaphorically. Her interest lies in the sheen, the façade, the presentation, the performance, the stuff of dreams and fantasy. Her photography is inspired by both the drama of the baroque, and ethereal qualities of Pre-Raphaelite works. Other important influences include late medieval and renaissance paintings and magical realist literature.
Her subjects range from well known icons to models, actors, dancers, friends, which she photographs in her studio. She then uses numerous different print techniques, screen print, photopolymer etching and Cyanotype which use a light sensitive emulsion often painted in circular or arch-shape motifs. The Cyanotype technique enables her to montage objects with real size photographic negatives. The works are often hand-painted or gilded with gold leaf. Emerson describes “the technique itself has an element of magic about it, it was also a wonderful discovery to be able to combine painting, collage and photography in this way’’.
Described as an alchemist in printmaking, her screen-prints are delicately embellished with bronze powders and more unusual materials including charcoal powder, ash and saw dust. Her etchings are often delicately embossed with unusual materials. These textural prints shift the focus of printmaking from precision and replication to the creation of unique, hand-finished prints.
Emerson’s work is widely collected and exhibited both in the UK as well as internationally, through galleries, art fairs and museums. She also created a new world record by making the world’s largest Cyanotype photograph, the final artwork measuring 46.8 sq metres. She has been awarded the Bridgeman Studio Award and shortlisted for the Young Masters Art Prize.
She currently lives and works by the sea in West Sussex, she undertakes a number of private and commercial commissions notably The Dorchester, London and The Waldorf Astoria, New York. As well as brands including Harvey Nichols, The Ivy Club, Sony, Triumph Underwear, Redbull, Toms, P&O Cruises, and Annoushka jewellery. Her work has also been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Another Magazine, The Financial Times Magazine and The Sunday Times Style Magazine.
