Emma Tapley: New Paintings @ HEMPHILL, Opening Thursday, June 10

Emma Tapley: New Paintings
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 10, 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

In the new paintings on view at Hemphill, Emma Tapley reinvents landscape painting with an abstractionist’s perception of nature. Tapley achieves this by implementing a combination of techniques: altering the scale, vantage point, and angle of her subject matter; removing an object from its natural context; or magnifying its infinite details. These new works depict views of the natural world filtered through a window, reflected on water, or floated in space. Tapley paints in a style of realism that challenges her abstract compositions.

Tapley’s practice of rendering the reflection of an object rather than the object itself references the use of the mirror--a technology employed and studied by artists and art scholars throughout history. Reflected on the glass of a window or upon the surface of water, the implied broader scene is reduced to a confined space, forcing a focused examination of a small fragment of nature. Ultimately, the viewer is transplanted from reality to a state of recollection or memory, a journey parallel to Tapley’s transformation of a landscape into something abstract. Aesthetically seductive and visually challenging, these paintings engage the viewer in a multi-dimensional experience.

Tapley’s paintings are meticulously constructed from layers of glazes built upon the surface of the panel. Minute details are rendered carefully with imperceptible brushtrokes. The paintings emerge as luminous and reflective in and of themselves, referring back to Tapley’s notions of mirroring and perception.

This exhibition is concurrent with Mary Early: Sculpture.

Hemphill
1515 14th Street NW
Washingon, DC