Hollywood darlings - SERIES
PHOTOPOLYMER ETCHING - SERIES
"Moonstruck"
Hand-painted photopolymer etching with silver leaf detail
Bespoke round frame
24x24 inches / 60x60 cm
R E A D , L I S T E N & W A T C H
I came to love reading late, being dyslexic I’ve struggled with both reading and writing, but thanks to my mum who made me persevere with it, I’m so happy because when I realised great books can give me that same thrill as experiencing an amazing work of art, I was hooked. I like visual books with a bit of magic, especially Angela Carter. Her short stories of reworked fairytales I find really inspired in her use of anthropomorphic motifs to explore the human psyche. For example, Nights at the Circus tells the story of a half woman-half swan trapeze artist in a South London Brothel.
I listen to podcasts too, current favourites are The Guilty Feminist and The Great Women Artists. TV-wise I liked Little Fires Everywhere, I read the book first, I’ve also read the Handmaids Tale but I’m not brave enough to watch the TV version. It’s great to see many more stories written by women in the mainstream, but there is still a long way to go before the heterosexual male gaze is not the default in so many industries. I have also never missed an episode of Rupauls Drag race.
''The Dancing Marquess'' is based on British aristocrat Henry Cyril Paget.
Photopolymer etching on heavyweight Southbank 310 gsm paper
Edition of 20
Paper size: 17x22 inches / 44x56 cm
E X T R A V A G A N C E
The Victoria and Albert museum is still one of my favourite places to visit. I tried to think of my favourite part of it, the jewellery, costumeand theatre set design rooms stand out, but I also love it all! They have fabulous fashion exhibits too, from Versace to Balenciaga and to their recent Tim Walker show, I always come away inspired. My love of flamboyant and lavish costumes and extravagant theatre design is what drew me to my latest subject, the British aristocrat Henry Cyril Pagetwho’s nickname was the ‘The Dancing Marquess’, who until now had been largely expunged from the family history books.
Paget converted his inherited family chapel into an ornate, 150 seat theatre, which he named the Gaiety, where he performed plays by Oscar Wilde – a bold move at the time since Wilde had been jailed for 'obscenity'. He earned the title of the Dancing Marquess after his Butterfly Dancing, where he would perform in a voluminous robe of transparent white silk that would be waved like wings.
10% of profits from this print will go to All Out Charity, who campaign and fight for a world where no person has to sacrifice their family, freedom, safety, or dignity because of who they are or who they love. Find out more here.
Cyanotype - SERIES
In the studio
Art remains for me a place for fantasy and experimentation…
ROSIE EMERSON
b. 1981, United Kingdom
Rosie Emerson is an award winning contemporary artist from the Dorset, working almost exclusively on representing the female form. Emerson’s figures draw reference from archetypes old and new from Artemis to the modern-day super model.
Inspired by her love of museums, architecture, theatre, silhouettes, shrines and rituals, she uses dramatic lighting, handmade costumes, set and prop making alongside printmaking and painting to create genre defying prints.
Her subjects range from well known icons to models, actors, dancers, friends, which she photographed in her studio she then uses numerous different print techniques. Her Screen-prints are delicately embellished with bronze powders and more unusual materials including charcoal powder, ash and saw dust. These textural prints shift the focus of printmaking from precision and replication to the creation of unique, hand-finished prints.
Her Cyanotype works enable her use UV light from the sun to expose objects and large scale photographic negatives directly on to the paper which has been coated with a light sensitive emulsion. Once dried, the works are often hand painted or gilded with gold leaf. Emerson describes ‘the technique itself has an element of magic about it, it is wonderful to be able to combine painting, collage and photography in this way’’.
Emerson’s current Photopolymer etchings continue to push printmaking in new directions, her monochrome portraits are delicately embossed with unusual materials; salt, netting, hair and cellophane. Her hand build theatre Marquette’s play with scale and create ornate surrounds to her subjects. Her works almost always echo previous eras and sometimes other worlds entirely.
Career highlights include being Artist in residence at Somerset House, Exhibitions at the RWA, Bristol and the Southbank Centre. A Finalist for the Young Masters Prize and shortlisted for the Rise Art Print Award, Emerson was also commissioned by Hackney WickED Arts Festival to create a new Guinness World record and create the world’s largest Cyanotype photograph.
Her work is widely collected and exhibited both in the UK, as well as internationally, through galleries, art fairs and museums. She has also been commissioned by brands including Sony, Triumph Underwear, Redbull, P&O Cruises, Toms, and Annoushka jewelry working with models Amber le Bon, Daisy Lowe and singer Eliza Doolittle. Her work has also been featured in Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Another Magazine, The Financial Times Magazine and The Sunday Times Style Magazine.
Rosie Emerson - PORTFOLIO & CV (PDF)
Rosie Emerson - Press: The Sunday Times article (.JPG)
Rosie Emerson - The Art of Fine Jewellery at Annoushka (0.3MB, .PDF)
