Emilie Pugh

Emilie Pugh (b. 1988, London) studied at Byam Shaw School of Art, The Ruskin School of Fine Art and Drawing at Oxford University. Her work is guided by an interest in the interconnectivity of all living things. It draws on systems of belief from the spiritual to the scientific, the micro to the macro and the conflicting or confluent universal forces that govern them. Pugh experiments with a wide range of mediums and processes, from unconventional methods of mark making using incense sticks, soldering irons, chemicals and light, to the more conventional pen and ink.

Referring to her work as an introspective journey, she begins with little conception of the final composition and seeks to capture a state of mind with smoke lines. Pugh favors layered artworks for their ability to create a shifting sense of space, which challenges their static form. Her meditative works are characterized by a tension between their small details and larger, swarming pathways. Everything is in flux, evolving, growing, dying and dissolving in a perpetual cycle. Pugh is compelled by the tensions that exist between the transient and the permanent; between form and the void, and what is material and immaterial.