Rosie Emerson

Rosie Emerson is an award-winning contemporary artist working almost exclusively on representing the female form. She was born in Dorset and completed her BA in Fine Art from Kingston University in 2004. Emerson’s figures draw reference from archetypes old and new from Artemis to the modern day supermodel.

Inspired by her love of theatre, performance, shrines, and rituals, she uses dramatic lighting, hand made costumes, set and prop making alongside printmaking and painting to create otherworldly one-off pieces. She photographs her models in her studio with lighting reminiscent of the drama of the Baroque period and poses inspired by the Pre Raphaelite movement. From these photographs, Screen-prints are then created and delicately embellished with bronze powders and more unusual materials including charcoal powder, ash, and sawdust. These textural prints shift the focus of printmaking from precision and replication to the creation of unique, hand-finished prints. Her recent cyanotype works enable her use of UV light from the sun to expose objects and large scale photographic negatives directly on to the paper which has been coated with a light-sensitive emulsion. Once dried, the works are often hand painted or gilded with gold leaf.

Career highlights include being Artist in residence at Somerset House, Exhibitions at the RWA, Bristol and the Southbank Centre. A Finalist for the Young Masters Prize and shortlisted for the Rise Art Print Award, Emerson was also commissioned by Hackney WickED Arts Festival to create a new Guinness World record and create the world’s largest Cyanotype photograph.

Her work is widely collected and exhibited both in the UK, as well as internationally, through galleries, art fairs, and museums. She has also been commissioned by brands and individuals including Sony, Triumph Underwear, Redbull, P&O Cruises, Toms, and Annoushka jewelry working with models Amber le Bon, Daisy Lowe and singer Eliza Doolittle. Her work has also been featured in Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Another Magazine, The Financial Times Magazine, and The Sunday Times Style Magazine.