Artist in Residence: Emily Escoffery

Emily Escoffery’s abstract pieces hum with colour – saturated tomato red, deep teal, tart yellow. “I want the colours so bright my eyes water,” she says. “I’m sure neutrals would be fine, but what’s the point? If you can do a huge red painting, why not?”

This exuberance is anchored by the Mono artist’s use of grid patterns behind each painting or cyanotype. In Red and Is it a Richter Blur…maybe, however, those grids disappear, warping into mysterious, amorphic shapes. Emily’s work winks at 1960s abstract and optical art by European and Canadian artists, including Gerhard Richter, Bridget Riley and Agnes Martin. She also dips into printmaking and even patchwork quilting for ideas.

Watch for more from this energetic emerging artist as she pursues a master in fine arts at University of Ottawa.

IG @emilyescoffery