Meakin + Parsons, in partnership with Hannah Payne presents a solo exhibition of new paintings by the gallery’s first artist in residence: Emily Wolfe | Field Work opening from 9th September – 1st October 2022.

Artist Emily Wolfe (b.1972 NZ) lives and works in Oxford. Having moved from New Zealand to London in 1998 to study for a Masters in Fine Arts at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, the artist has since exhibited internationally, and currently lives in Oxford.

Emily began her residency at Meakin + Parsons when the gallery opened in early 2022. She has been working in the gallery’s dedicated artist studio space to make new, large scale works for her solo show in September.

“These paintings begin with paper collages. The raw material for them comes from photocopies of prints of 18th century landscape paintings, from coloured paper, cellophane, cardboard, or any other scraps of paper or detritus I might find in my studio.

The paintings make reference to the process of recording archaeological excavations, something I became interested in after a period spent working on a variety of sites with the Museum of London Archaeology. The two processes of painting and excavating are connected in my mind. Each process involves layering and stratification and the consequent emergence of narratives.” (Emily Wolfe, 2022)

Since excavation depends on subtraction, it could be regarded as the inverse of Wolfe’s painting process, but the intention in her current work is to hold these opposing ideas in equilibrium. By overlapping sheets of paper, the artist’s aim is simultaneously to disrupt and affirm the image and the nature of its construction as a series of intersecting planes.

Emily Wolfe’s works possess a disconcerting quietness – an uncertainty and mystery that implies there is more to them than meets the eye. Through painting beautiful, yet innately unsettling works, Wolfe addresses the “subtle interplay between privacy and exhibitionism as well as realism and the fantastic.” (Ghent Onetwenty Gallery, Emily Wolfe: Through a Glass Darkly, exhibition catalogue)

VIEW WORKS

TALK:

An artist conversation will take place during the exhibition 17th September 5 - 7 pm (talk starts 5.30pm) between the artist and Catherine McCormack author, independent curator and consultant lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and the University of Oxford.

Book

Images, Top, Installation View, middle, Emily Wolfe, Field Work 2, 2022, Oil on canvas, 125 x 100 cm

Below: Emily pictured in her studio.

Meakin + Parsons in Partnership with Hannah Payne

16 North Parade Ave, Oxford, OX2 6LX

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