Emma McMillan (b. 1989, Atlanta, GA) finds paths to abstraction through quotidian experiences of architecture, literature, and forgotten historical events. Her large-scale gem-hued oil paintings and drawings are complex reflections on the mutation of meaning across time and space. She crafts her images through transposing fast gestural drawings through layers of alla prima or wet into wet painting influenced by the great Venetian painters and her mentor Alex Katz. Opposing impulses of fast gestures and slow-burning image quality govern her practice. Recent canvasses examine a local Spotted Lanternfly infestation as a commentary on human/animal affect.

 

McMillan has had institutional exhibitions at Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, Atlanta Georgia, “Project X” (2019) and “Susanna” at Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation, New York City, New York (2021)

 

She has had solo exhibitions at Edouard Monatassut, Paris, France (2019), “Ornament and Crime” Lomex New York City, New York (2018), and “Live Burial” Bad Reputation Fine Arts Los Angeles, California (2017). As well as select group and two-person exhibitions “Discard Phase” at Triest, Brooklyn, New York (2021),  “Downtown Painting” at Peter Freeman, New York City, New York (2019), “Responsibility Fest” at Kunstverien Braunschweig Wolfe Island, Canada (2019). Select upcoming exhibitions include “Invasives” at Sebastian Gladstone, Los Angeles, California (January 2024), and a yet-to-be-titled show at Gallerie Philip Zollinger, Zurich, Switzerland (2024). 

 

McMillan currently lives in Brooklyn, New York and works in the Bronx, New York.