Women in Art - Raising the Bar
15 FEBRUARY 2022 - 08 MARCH 2022
Timed Auction
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2. Emma Foster
The Empress
The Empress
Oil on Handmade linen frame, with white gold, yellow gold and champagne gold leaf gilding.
40 cm x 50 cm x 4 cm.
2022
The Empress depicts a young girl sitting seemingly empowered in a setting that seems to be neither internal, nor external. Juxtaposing mad-made interior structures that are in a state of decay and deterioration, alongside natural forms, whereupon the division of the two becomes blurred. The girl holds a lotus flower in one hand, and a tulip in the other, in a regal manner, as one would hold a sceptre and an orb. Both flowers symbolic, the lotus of purity and rebirth, and the tulip of royalty and leadership. The crows above the girl, entwining her with ivy, can be symbolic of intelligence and knowledge, and of death and grief. The entirety of each part, once combined, brings together a beautiful, yet mildly disturbing image, which encourages the onlooker to consider its significance to themselves, personally, whilst the use of gold leaf gilding gives the artwork an iconic feel.
ESTIMATE
£8,000 - 10,000
This auction has now ended
Notes
Emma Foster is a Contemporary British Artist. Her work could be described as Magical Realism, with strong Symbolic connotations. She began to paint in 2018 after her son, the last of her four children was born. Emma then decided that she would explore her artistic abilities, which eventually drew her to figurative work. It was also the beginning of her journey into the craft of gold leaf gilding, led by her admiration of the artist Gustav Klimt.
Emma lives in a seaside town in South East Essex with her three youngest children and her husband.Emma’s work strives to explore the basic human feelings of want, freedom, joy, hope, sorrow and our relationship with nature. There is also, often a play with internal and external locations, with manmade structures juxtaposed with natural elements, the thread of theatricality in her work very apparent.
Central St Martins, 2014-2017 BA (First Class Honours) Fine Art
The winner of the painting category for the Visual Arts Open Award 2021.
Emma is currently exhibiting in ‘The Sinclair Gallery’ in Hertfordshire
WEBSITE : emmafosterfineart.co.uk
INSTAGRAM : emmafoster_fineart
