Friday 21st February to

Saturday 29th March 2014

.

Private view: Thursday 20th

February 6pm-9pm

.

The Outsiders are pleased to welcome Southampton-based artist Emma Richardson for her first solo exhibition with the gallery.Entitled FEAST,  the showcase, comprising large-scale paintings and drawings, explores the jungle of the subconscious and the unconscious imagination. Using her preferred medium of oil paint and charcoal loosely applied to linen, Richardson creates abstract yet suggestive forms that are simultaneously visceral and evocative. Through this application of materials, the artist investigates the ever-changing nature of the human form. Reveling in the unpredictable nature of her chosen medium, Richardson engages with her materials in a very intuitive way, shaping these tools of colour and movement into forms laden with multiple allusions. In doing so, she calls attention to fluid nature of the human psyche with a focus on the erotic yet basic human desires, which are shared by all. For this particular body of work, Richardson has delved deeper into the world of psychoanalysis, behaviorism and humanist psychologyciting masters of the field including Georges Bataille and Sigmund Freud as inspirations for her work. Moved by questions surrounding human sexuality and the fine line between human nature and animalistic behaviour, the artist prompts her audience to reexamine notions of what drives us as humans querying notions of what is socially acceptable and what is taboo.

EMMA RICHARDSON

Hailing from the south coast of England, Emma Richardson is a pioneer of contemporary abstract art. Primarily working with oil, acrylic and charcoal, she typically creates large-scale paintings on linen that are both visceral and evocative.

Richardson’s paintings exploit the medium to explore the nature of the human form, while making use of the physical quality of the medium against the rough texture of the linen on which she often works, drawing upon influences from painting masters such as Francis Bacon and the drawings of Hans Bellmer.

Since graduating with a BA in Fine Art (Painting) from Wimbledom School of Art in 2004, Richardson has split her time between her fine art practice and performing in the band, Band Of Skulls.

Her first major solo exhibition, Crusin’ For A Bruisin’, took place in February 2012 in East London’s Londonewcastle Project Space. The same series of paintings were later exhibited in Hong Kong in May 2012 as part of the group exhibition, Daydreaming with… The Hong Kong Edition, to great critical acclaim.

Emma Richardson lives and works in her hometown of Southampton.