Emilie Pugh

I was born in London in 1988 and studied at Byam Shaw School of Art and at The Ruskin School of Fine Art and Drawing at Oxford University. I currently live and work in London.

My work over the past few years has been 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. 

Through drawing, burning, moving 3D installation and light work, I investigate the invisible currents that permeate our everyday existence. Time, breath, pulse, energy pathways, psychological cartographies; those things which are felt or heard rather then seen.

With a focus on drawing I employ a wide variety of mediums and processes. I use a combination of unconventional methods of mark making, a lit incense stick, gunpowder, chemicals, thread, and light as well as the more conventional pen and ink. The choice of material and the process are inextricably bound with the concepts. The materials carry meaning in their physical properties.

Everything is in flux, evolving, growing dying and dissolving in a perpetual cycle. I am compelled by the tensions that exist between the transient and the permanent; between form and the void, and what is material and immaterial.

“At any given moment there are countless thoughts within each and every one of us that intersect, overlap, influence and distort one another. If we think about how we are thinking then we are aware of this process but we are unable to say what is going on and why. Everything that we experience adds to the complexity of our inner sea and to the world that is always the process of our making.”

Past Solo Shows

2017 - 'Motions of the Mind', Solo show, Michael Goedhuis Gallery, London

2016 - 'Topologies' , Solo show, Hunter/Whitfield Gallery, Clerkenwell, London

2016 - 'STATES OF BECOMING' , Solo show, The Cob Gallery, London

2014 - 'Tracing Pathways', Solo Show, Kunsthalle m3, Aterlierhaus Mengerzeile, Berlin

Past Joint Shows

2015-2017 - 'COLD FOLDS', Emilie Pugh and Alice von Maltzahn, Blacks Club,67 Dean Street, London

2014- 'INTRA' , Emilie Pugh and Alice von Maltzhan, The Asylum, Peckham, London

Past Group Exhibitions and Art Fairs

2019 - ‘She Persists’, Group show, Heist Pavilion , Palazzo Benzon Venice Biennale , Italy

2019 - ‘Into the Sea’, Group Show, Tree Line Residency, Il Frantoio Capalbio , Italy

2019 - Tefaf Maastricht 2019, Michael Goedhuis Gallery

2018 - Her Stories , Group Show , Protein Studios, London

2018 - PAD London 2018, Michael Goedhuis Gallery

2018 - Expo Chicago 2018, Michael Goedhuis Gallery

2018 - Tefaf Maastricht 2018, Michael Goedhuis Gallery

2018 - ‘Adventures and Curiosities’ , Group show, Hauser and Wirth , London

2017 - PAD London 2017, Michael Goedhuis Gallery

2017 - Masterpiece London 2017, Michael Goedhuis Gallery

2017 -  DRAWING NOW 2017, Cob Gallery , Paris

2016 - Art Basel Miami 2016, Michael Goedhuis Gallery

2015 - 'Drawing In' , Group show, Mount House Gallery

2014-2015 - 'INTERACT' , Group show, East Wing XI Courtauld, London

2014- 'MATERIAL IDENTITY', Rook and Raven Gallery, London, W1

2014- BFAMI auction, PHILLIPS, Berkeley square,  London

2013 - 'A Decade of Expression' , Group Show, Mount House Gallery, Marlborough

2013 - 'Natural Perceptions',Group show, 68 Dean Street, London

2012 - ‘Sustainability’, Group show, The Botanical Gardens, Oxford

2011 - ‘The Other Art Fair’, The Bargehouse, SE1, London

2010 -'Art Thou Made',  Osney Mead, Oxford

2010 - ‘ Poetry of Objets’, Solo Show, St Johns College Dolphin Gallery, Oxford

2009- Group Show, Ruskin And Goldsmiths, ‘Art Thou Maid’, Osney Mead, Oxford

2009- Pirye Prize, Oxford University Press, Group show, Oxford

2009- ‘Warp and the Weft’, Group show, Botanical Gardens, Oxford

2009-‘Morph’,Group show, North Wall Gallery, Oxford

2008-‘Box Ladder’, Ruskin Group Show, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford 

Prizes

2015 -Longlisted for Aesthetica Magazine art prize

2009 - Pirye Prize shorlist, Oxford University Press, Oxford

Residencies

2019 - 2 week residency ‘Tree Line Residency’ , Calpalbio, Tuscany, Italy

2013-2014 - 6 month residency , Aterlierhaus Mengerzeile, Berlin

2009 - 6 week residency, ‘Draw International’ Caylus, France