Lot Essay
Annabel Emson completed her BA at Chelsea College of Art and her MA at The Slade School of Art, studying directly under Peter Doig, Chris Ofili and Bruce Mclean. Her work explores the liminal space between abstraction and figuration, creating a language in paint to describe her highly personal experiences of the world. Translating ephemeral sensations, intuitions, memories and emotions onto canvas using visceral, gestural strokes of pigment, Emson’s works become semi-autobiographical landscapes that evoke the myriad sounds, smells, feelings and impressions that mark a particular moment. While suggestions of what may be occurring murmur through the layers of paint, hovering on the very edge of visibility, works such as Birthing Waters remain resolutely abstract, expressive amalgamations of lived experience, considered through the hazy lens of memory.