Emma Lacon: Gap In The Field

NEW exhibition showing at Burdall’s Yard from Tuesday 10 January to Friday 17 February 2023

Private View: Thursday 12 January, 5pm to 9pm - you are invited to join Emma for the exhibition’s Private View

Creating large semi-abstract paintings in acrylic, pen and ink, Emma paints instinctively and is inspired by the natural world, drawing upon surroundings of the Wiltshire countryside and a love of the Devon coast line. From a starting point of chaotic abstract marks Emma works with her paintings to eventually create a scene of solitude. Trying not to think too hard about the end painting, constantly removing and adding brush strokes, Emma's paintings are experimental and can often change direction…

Emma Says: “From an early age I would spend hours drawing and art became a favourite subject, leading me to do a foundation course at Plymouth Art College and then on to a degree in Illustration at the University of Humberside. My work at this time was small and very detailed, but I always had a love for colour and textures. After university I spent some time in London with the odd design and Illustration jobs, however life seemed to get in the way and I ended up with a full time job to pay the rent. I then got married and moved to Dubai with my husband, and had three children. Life then seemed to revolve around being a mother and although the desire to paint didn’t disappear the opportunity never really seemed to be there. 

My family and I moved to Wiltshire 10 years ago, and I set up a business with my husband, which was a challenge but rewarding. There always seemed to be something missing… I suddenly got an over welcoming desire to paint again, and in my kitchen at home I picked up a paint brush and started splashing colour on a canvas once more! I struggled at first and wasn’t sure what I was trying to achieve, I had forgotten how to paint.  I kept going and it began to come back to me. I did some life drawing and a painting course, and I remember the feeling of walking back into a studio, the familiar smell made me smile and feel at home.  I learnt to let go and my painting style changed. I think a larger format helped this, as it seemed almost impossible to go back to the small detailed pictures I used to paint.

I began to build up a collection of work and then I sold some which gave me the belief that I might be able to do this! I made the decision to dedicate some time to it, taught myself to build a website, set up an Instagram account and most importantly found myself a studio, which above all gave me the literal space and the headspace to be creative.

I paint my pictures completely from my imagination with very little reference to life. They start as blocks of colours and child like drawings.  I have never really been one for sketch books and my work seems to evolve on the canvas; it means there can be lots of painted over mistakes. I have begun to understand the process and now go with it, sometimes leaving the impression of a discarded picture to show through. I create marks which begin to make an image that has some sense, sometimes I make a mark, I will see something recognisable in it and it will completely change the direction of the painting. I paint out marks then paint them back in, I slip back into the fine detail of my past often, then turn the canvas upside down and paint them out leaving bits behind.

There is often conflict in my work and it can be a battle between painting fine detail and pulling it back with a can of spray paint. I push a painting until it suddenly takes on the transformation of a finished piece.

I have often thought about the meaning behind my work and what I want people to see in it. For a long time I didn’t think there was one, but I think they are trying to achieve a sense of peace, a place where you would like to be, a rest from reality.”