Hang each night in rapture at Mura Ma
Maja Lorkowska, Exhibitions Editor
Hang each night in rapture is the fourth exhibition at Marple’s Mura Ma arts space, this time presenting the work of painter Emma Richardson.
Teetering between sensual figurativeness and abstraction, Richardson’s large scale oil paintings make clear references to the Old Masters, in composition, colour palette and the ‘fleshy’ handling of paint. Indeed, they explore the idea of desire, sexuality and transcendence, showing the painting as a site of passionate activity that is now merely the record of that energy, waiting for the viewers’ activating gaze.
The title of the exhibition is taken from a Blondie song, and in her practice as a whole Richardson often draws on the work of other female modern and contemporary artists, like Hilma af and Maria Lassnig, while in her quest to clearly capture sensations, Richardson find dramatic scenes inspired by the Old Masters, like Artemisia Gentileschi, Rubens and William Blake.
