Description

2020

Oil, charcoal, and pastel on canvas

18 x 24 inches

Emma Schwartz’s (b. 1992, Toronto, Canada) practice reflects upon experiences of introversion, revealing isolated figures and solitary structures through hazy and textured surfaces. Each painting is built up with many layers of material, including oil paint, pastel, charcoal, and graphite applied with rags, knives, and erasers. Schwartz redraws and repaints her compositions allowing them to unfold spontaneously, with their histories—sometimes visible, sometimes hidden—embedded within their accumulated layers. Forms and figures emerge not only from painted line, but from the crevices of her low relief surfaces. Emma received her BFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2014 and her MFA from Columbia in 2019. She has had solo exhibitions at Annarummagallery in Naples and Chapter in New York, and has been included in recent group exhibitions at Christian Anderson in Copenhagen; In Lieu in Los Angeles; Circle Contemporary in Chicago; and FALSE FLAG, Thierry Goldberg Gallery, Y2K, The Hole and DUPLEX, all in New York City. In 2019 she received the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Venice Award. You can view more of Emma’s work on her website.