In today’s Q&A we meet the talented artist Emily Moore who is currently exhibiting her work at the &Gallery on Dundas Street.
Emily graduated with a first-class degree from Edinburgh College of Art in 2013. In 2012, she was awarded the Royal Scottish Academy Keith Prize and during her final year was selected for the Saatchi New Sensations Long-list. Since graduating Emily has been shortlisted for many high-profile art awards including the Griffin Art Prize, the Rise Art Prize, and the Zealous Emerge Art Awards.
Emily has exhibited extensively throughout the UK, including regularly exhibiting at the annual Royal Scottish Academy open exhibitions, where in 2016 she won the Royal Scottish Academy Guthrie Award. Moore’s work is held in many private collections around the world, and she continues to exhibit her work internationally.
Read on to discover more.
How / when did you discover your passion and talent for art?
It’s something I’ve always enjoyed and was good at growing up. My mum was the arty influence so we spent a lot of our younger years drawing and painting. She enrolled at Grays School of Art as a mature student, once we were a bit older, so I have lots of memories visiting her painting studios back in the 90s. That had a huge influence on me so I knew then I’d also go to art school at some point.
And please tell us more about your style?
Working directly onto wooden panels, I build my paintings, layer upon layer, masking and cutting out the intricate patterns. These detailed layers overlap and contrast with the flat architectural forms, whilst also revealing glimpses of the expressive abstract paintings beneath. My work often combines elements of abstract and figurative painting, the expressive brushwork and minimal geometric forms, interwoven with more recognisable figurative details.
Photography is central to my practice and the starting point for most of my work. I use photography as a way of documenting my experiences, the creative process which allows me to alter and reframe these images to create new, anonymous landscapes.
Please tell us more about your latest exhibition.
“From Berlin with Love” is a solo exhibition currently on show at the &Gallery on Dundas Street.
This new body of work moves away from the mountainous landscapes of previous work towards the urban environment. However, the tension between nature and the built environment, present in previous paintings, is still the driving force behind these new works.
The new work focuses on the stark facades of modern tower blocks, inspired in part by a trip to Berlin, and latterly, places closer to home. The sharp lines of these modernist forms are overlaid with intricate patterns of leaves and tree branches.
Where did the title ‘From Berlin with Love’ come from?
The first piece I made for the exhibition was based on a photograph I took in Berlin, whilst visiting my twin brother in November 2019. We usually celebrate our birthdays together but that was the last time we saw each other before the pandemic took over. The title also references a beautiful film made using archival footage, ‘From Scotland with Love’.
The exhibition was originally planned for 2020 but had to be rescheduled for obvious reasons. I always prefer to have fresh source material to work from, mainly my own photographs but for the same reasons, these were difficult to get, and I had to look back over old images for a source of inspiration.
Can you tell us a bit more about your process?
A lot of people are surprised when they find out the work is entirely hand painted. I did a lot of screen-printing in my final two years at art school and was fascinated by the process. I experimented with printing photographs directly onto my paintings, before developing my own technique of projecting images onto the work, and then cutting the details out of masking tape before painting them. It can be quite a laborious process but allows me to layer the detailed architectural images with more painterly sections. I usually start by creating an abstract piece. I’ll then cover the work entirely with tape, before drawing and cutting out the leaves to preserve those sections of the work underneath. I’ll then finish by painting the buildings on top. It’s quite a backwards way of working and by the end, the work is almost entirely covered with masking tape. I can never tell what the work is going to look like until all the tape comes off, my favourite part!
Any exciting plans in the pipeline for you?
I will be taking part in an open studios event on Saturday 27th November from 11-5pm at Wasps Studios, 78 Albion Road, EH7 5QZ.
Where is your own Hidden Edinburgh and why?
I’ve lived in Tollcross since I moved to Edinburgh in 2009, so it has to be the Old Town. I don’t think there’s anywhere in the city more striking than walking through the Grassmarket, passed the Castle and then on, down the Cowgate, under the huge stone archways of the bridges above. Always a good night out to be had too!
Please share your top tip for a first-time visitor to the city.
If you’ve never visited Edinburgh I’d definitely recommend coming, in August, when the Fringe is on. A lot of locals hate festival season but I’ve always loved it. The city is such an exciting place to be with loads on. It’s something I look forward to every year.
Life motto? If you have one!
No regrets! It may sound clichéd but dwelling on the past is pointless, so I try not to.
Find out more about Emily and her work here
