Art on a Postcard x War Child UK 2024 Part II

About 

Emerson Pullman (b.1995) is a figurative painter who creates portraits that operate on the boundary between realism and abstraction. Often beginning with an initial drawing, he instinctively pushes forward by making marks and gestures using layers of transparent paint. The depiction of a figure in a scene is used as a starting point for imagining the deeper reality of what is being represented and to use as a framework to explore themes of time, memory, introspection and mortality. 

The works draw inspiration from a variety of sources including Philip Guston’s abstract works and 16th century ‘non finito’ sculptures. Fascinated by the process and mechanics of painting, Pullman plays with this and leaves areas unpainted or over-painted and images left without being entirely resolved. Through attempting to transcribe his reality onto the two dimensional surface, through this diversity of resolution, Pullman attempts to re-create the way in which the eye operates; in that sense they are an exercise in anthropocentric seeing and a representation of the way in which one interrogates the world.  

Education 

2021-2022 MA Fine Art - City & Guilds Art School, London 

2017-2020 BA Fine Art - Leeds Arts University 

Select Exhibitions/Awards 

Solo Shows 
2023 Where Do We Go From Here? - New Normal Projects, Cromwell Place, London 

Group Shows 
2023 Contemporary Portraits - John Swarbrooke Fine Art, Cromwell Place, London 

2023 You Are Here - MAPA Fine Art, Staffordshire St, London 

2023 Cacatopia 07 - Annka Kultys, London 

2022 London Paint Club Selects: Vol 2 - Koppel Projects, London 

2022 Wells Art Contemporary - Wells Cathedral, Somerset 

2022 Royal Cambrian Academy Annual Exhibition - RCA Wales 

2022 London Paint Club Selects: Vol 1 - Hoxton, London 

2021 Royal Cambrian Academy Annual Exhibition - Wales 

2021 Ones to Watch 2021 - Sunny Bank Mills, Leeds 

2021 Free Range X Clear Channel - UK wide, 1000+ locations 

2021 Ruth Bouchard Self-Portrait Prize - Longlist 

2020 A Sense of Humanity - Old Red Bus Station, Leeds 

2020 Untilted - Leeds Arts University Graduate Show 

2019 Find and Seek - Leeds Corn Exchange 

2019 Release - Wharf Chambers, Leeds 

2019 Evolve - LS6, Leeds 

Awards 
2023 Bloomberg New Contemporaries 

2022 Leverhulme Trust Scholarship 

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