Encompassing a whole range of traditional printmaking techniques, from monoprint, and photoetching, to cyanotype and screenprint, Emerson’s works are multi-layered and melded with organic materials and hand-finished flourishes. Embracing an unapologetically feminine aesthetic, her works shimmer and dance, adorned with flowers and embellished like a palace ballroom. In some works, ethereal figures take centre stage, and in others they drift off into the distance or disappear completely. It is as if Emerson has breathed life into her works, which in their organic beauty, become living ecosystems in their own right.

Exhibition text from When Other worlds Whisper presented by Smithson Projects

Rosie Emerson (b1981) is a UK contemporary artist living and working on the Sussex coast. Described as an alchemist in printmaking, her delicately embellished work she push the boundaries of printmaking, using goldleaf, bronze powders, charcoal powder, flowers and seeds, sprinkling’s of salt and tea for toning, her often 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 has undertaken a number of private and commercial commissions notably The Vesber bar at The Dorchester, London and Raffles Hotel in Boston. 

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’’. 

She currently lives and works by the sea in West Sussex, she undertakes a number of private and commercial commissions and has worked with 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.
  

EXHIBITIONS + ART FAIRS (Selected Group & Solo)

2024
Solo Exhibition, When Other Worlds Whisper 17 Midland Rd Bristol, Smithson Gallery 
The Art Car boot Fair, Smithson Gallery
London Original Print Fair, Smithson Gallery
Mavens, Decorazon Gallery, New York

2023
Young Masters Art Prize, Shortlist & Exhibition, London
Blisters, Print Club London
Art on a Postcard, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne
Flight, Paxton Glew, Brighton
Photography Open Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

2022
Print store Live, 99 Projects, London
Art Car Boot Fair, Smithson Gallery, London
Young Masters Art Prize, Shortlist & Exhibition, London
New Vision, Paxton Glew, Brighton 
Carnival, Paxton Glew, Brighton
Submerge, in Collaboration with Beth Nicholas, Paxton Glew, Brighton
Super Nature, Paxton Glew, Brighton
London Original Print Fair, Smithson Gallery

2021
Great Print Exhibition, Rheged, Cumbria
RWA Open, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Wish You Were Here, Art on a Postcard, The Postal Museum, London
London Original Print Fair, Smithson Gallery
Small Wonders, group show at Well Hung gallery

2020
Society of Women Artists, selected group show
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair
London Original Print Fair, Royal Academy, Smithson Gallery
Art Car Boot Fair, Smithson Gallery
‘Women by Women’ Liberty Gallery, Royal Over Sea’s League, London

2019
RWA Open, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
Society of Women Artists, Mall Galleries, London
Choose Love, curated by Print Club, Somerset House, London UK

2018
Phantoms, Solo Exhibition, Fairhurst Gallery, Norfolk, UK
Circle gallery, St Ives, group exhibition with House of artists, UK 

2017
Art Palm Springs, Decorazon Gallery, USA
The National Art Open, The Barge house, London
Imperfect Illusions, Joint exhibition, Turner Barnes gallery, UK
Revolutions, Viking Gallery, Margate
Blisters, Paperback edition, Print Club, London
New York and Stockholm Affordable Art Fair, Decorazon Gallery

2016
Visions and Voices, Joint Exhibition, Decorazon Gallery, NYC Skirball Center, New York, USA
The London Art Fair, Decorazon Gallery
Art on a Postcard, Maddox Gallery, London
New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Stockholm and London Affordable Art Fairs, Decorazon Gallery

2015
Enigma’s, Turner Barnes Gallery, Essex, UK (Solo)
Aurora, The Club at The Ivy, London (Solo)
There and Now, Leontia Gallery, London
Finalist Young Masters, Sphinx Fine Art, London, curated by Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London
Kinds of Blue, Candida Stevens Fine Art, Chichester
Texas Contemporary, Decorazon Gallery
Dog Days, Hang Up Gallery, London
Good Figures, Mall Galleries, London, curated by Candida Stevens 
The London Art Fair, Fiumano Fine Art, London

2014
Ventique, Smithson Gallery, London (Solo)
The Moon is no Door, Opus Gallery, Gloucestershire, UK (Solo)
Sirens, Hang Up Gallery, London (Solo)
Paint on Paper, Hollywood Rd Gallery, London
Carnival, Imitate Modern Gallery, London
Winter Salon, The Lloyds Club, Roberta Moore Contemporary
London, Mexico City and New York AAF, Decorazon Gallery
Hong Kong AAF, Fiumano Fine Art, Hong Kong

2013
Macmillan De'Longhi Art Auction, Bonham’s, RCA, London
Façade, Rosie Emerson and Nina Fowler, Anise Gallery, London
Femme, Studio 1019, Decorazon Gallery, Dallas, USA 

2012
Shrine, Roberta Moore, The Chelsea Club, London (Solo)
Harvey Nichols, Knightsbridge, London (Solo)
Altered Forms, Rosie Emerson, Anja Niemi and Nancy Fouts, Hang Up Gallery, London
Rapture, Roberta Moore Contemporary, Cheltenham, UK
Guts for Garters, COB Gallery, London
Singapore AAF, Fiumano Fine Art 
Celebration, Fiumano Fine Art, London
Sex and Death Guts for Garters, Carnaby Street, London

2011
Alchemy, Art at Annoushka, London (Solo)
Nostalgia, Rook and Raven Gallery, London
In Darkness Blooms, View Art Gallery, Bristol
Anatomy, COB Gallery, London
Macmillan De Longi Art Auction, Bonham’s, London
London Fashion Weekend, Somerset House, London
Surreal Women, COB Gallery, London
MoMac Pop Up, Roberta Moore Gallery, Cheltenham, UK
Women of the World Festival, The Southbank Centre, London
Photography Open, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

COMMISSIONS, AWARDS, RESIDENCIES

2024
Vinyl album cover artwork for 'Hearts get started' by Ebony Buckle

2023
Young Masters Art Prize, Shortlist & Exhibition, London

2022
Young Masters Art Prize, Shortlist & Exhibition, London
Vinyl album cover artwork for Disco Lasers by Ebony Buckle
Commissioned Artworks for Vesper Bar at The Dorchester 
Commissioned artworks for Raffles, Boston, Kevin Barry Fine Art

2020
Album cover Ebony Buckle

2019
Album Cover Arctic Wolf V Estate Agent, Richard Macklin

2017
Long listed Taylor Wessing Photography Exhibition

2015
Bridgeman Studio Award
Finalist Young Masters, Sphinx Fine Art, London, curated by Cynthia Corbett Gallery

2014
Artist in Residence, Somerset House, as part of The National Open Arts Competition.
Awarded a grant by Hackney Wicked Arts Festival, to create the Worlds Largest Cyanotype Photograph.
Lecture, The Alternative Photography Collective, London

2011
Judge, The National Arts Open Competition

2010
Album covers for Fiona Bevan and Riddler

2009
P&O Cruises, 15 large works commissioned 

Triumph Underwear, Artwork for billboard campaign

PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
2010-2023
Creative Review, BBC London News Night, Amelia Magazine Interview, Huck Magazine Interview, Wall Street International Magazine, The Londonist review. The Huffington Post, Sunday Times Style Magazine, The Evening Standard, Financial Times, Special Arts Edition, The Telegraph online, Harpers Bazaar, The Sunday Times, Vogue, Country and Townhouse Magazine, Tattler, Another Magazine, 20 x 20 Magazine, The Independent. 

EDUCATION

2001-2004 BA Honours in Fine Art. Kingston University, Surrey

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