MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF
Emma Marie with paintings that are part of her exhibition Spatiality at Atelier Studio|Gallery in Nelson.
Artist Emma Marie has been taking early morning walks for years, fascinated by the stars, the clouds and the changing sky.
“It puts life into perspective and reminds us how microscopic we really are,” she says.
It is one of the many influences for her new exhibition Spatiality, which opens on Friday in Nelson gallery Atelier.
“Space can be internal or external,” she says. “It can be clearing thoughts and feelings to let go of the old and make room to cultivate more of the positive.”
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MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF
Emma Marie used NASA images of nebulae for these paintings.
Her layered acrylic works contain highly detailed representations of planets and nebulae against an abstract background. There is a game of opposites – dark and light, order and chaos, clear and hidden.
She used unorthodox tools like a spatula, wire brush and spray bottle, and says her process started from a place of “what if…?”
Emma Marie says caring for her terminally ill mother Suzan, who died of breast cancer last year, was another influence on her art; the act of creating was an outlet that she says kept her grounded and steady during a harrowing time.
She graduated with an outstanding degree from the Bachelor of Visual Arts at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology in 2005 and also studied psychology, fashion, textiles and graphic design.
Her previous exhibition, Nowness, in 2020 marked a shift away from the highly realistic paintings she had created – “the abstract was a rebellion”.
MARTIN DE RUYTER/STUFF
Emma Marie says her new works bring the figurative and the abstract together.
In her latest works she says she has found a way to bring the abstract and figurative together.
Her only regret is that her mother, who was her biggest supporter on her artistic path, will not be present at the opening of the exhibition.
“She has come to all my shows and would have loved to have been here. But in a sense, she’s here because of these works.”
Spatiality opens on Friday 15th July at 5:30pm at the Atelier Studio Gallery at 329 Trafalgar Square at 5:30pm and runs until 13th August.