2021 Grad Show

Emma Larson

AUArts Grad Show IMG_2085_polarr

Painting

As the pandemic has resulted in being at home more often, I find my everyday life has changed drastically. I often find myself looking and thinking about the outside world seen through my windows at home rather than out in the world experiencing it as I used to. I work from photos I’ve taken of my own daily life of traveling around the city and now, more recently, spending time at home. I use oil paint to merge these photo collages into one cohesive work, as I find the act of painting with the hand very important and enjoyable. The meticulous quality of the paintings lends to the focus and attention I apply to both looking for new photo references and the act of painting them into works that reflect the care and labour put into them.
Through the use of mirrors, windows, or screens as the framing device I create a specular space that does not exist but looks as though it is a real space. Using objects that are recognizably a mirror, or screen, I am also creating a more confusing space that blurs the lines between indoors vs. outdoors and public vs. private. I hope to create images of space that have punctured holes through the domestic or public space to expose the other. The mirror stands in for the figure viewing the image but instead of reflecting them it shows a specific view already chosen.

Here or There?

Seeing Through

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