Emma Prempeh in her studio, photo courtesy the artist
Damaris Athene: Could you start off by telling me a bit about yourself?
Emma Prempeh: I'm a painter and I love to dabble in film and projection. I like the idea of using paint in ways that transcend the canvas. That's what I always try to do but it never works out, obviously, because paint is flat. I guess that’s why I like adding in fabric and really black paint. My work is usually pretty large because I like figures to be the same size as me. I'd love to feel like you're in the room with them. I am from southeast London. I went to school in Bromley and then I studied in Croydon, and I went to Goldsmith's University. Now I'm at the RCA on my first year of MA on a scholarship. It has been quite a transition.
DA: Hopefully an exciting one too! Could you say a bit more about your practice?
EP: Yeah, so I look at the intangible ideas of the human experience, what I experience and what we experience that we can't see. So whether that is emotion, or whether that's something paranormal, or something that is spiritual. I like looking at consciousness, because of my own health problems. Maybe it's an existential thing and I'm having continuous existential crises within my paintings. That’s why I like to translate these experiences into painting to help me and I like seeing people have a reaction to it, what they think I'm trying to convey. This ties into family, looking at the past and who relates to me and why I'm in London right now.
DA: Is all your work figurative?
EP: A lot of it is recently, but I'm trying to move away from that but not necessarily completely get rid of it. I am trying to move more into abstraction and using projection.
DA: I'd be intrigued to see your use of projection. Would you set up scenes or would you be filming things you saw?
EP: When I was at Goldsmiths, I filmed scenes in London, like, what I was seeing on my journey to university or home. I broke up with my ex at that point and it was based on the idea of time continuously moving although when you're with someone, the moment stops, and you might feel like time doesn't move. Actually, the projection was an accident, but it worked out. It's always been my dream to have a dark room with paintings all around that have projections on them.
Limbo, 2021, Oil, Acrylic, Imitation Gold leaf and paper on canvas
A diptych, 110cm x 200cm for each canvas
Photo courtesy of the artist
DA: I’m interested to see those ideas come to fruition! How did your painting style develop?
EP: So it developed in second year. In first year I was working with bright colours thinking about the chakras and the different areas of the body having different auras. Then it became quite difficult when I tried to add in figures because I would paint my family members and they're brown. So I was like, how can I do this and make it more earthy but still make it seem ethereal or like you’re stepping into something that's paranormal? I was playing with oil paint and white spirit, and it became this weird style that worked. That's also when I found gold leaf. I like gold leaf not only because it was gold, but because of what it does when it tarnishes. When it oxidises it decays and embodies time itself. That's why I keep using it because I'm referencing family members and it worked to bring time into the piece. It was weird when people started buying my work as in a few years’ time it's not going to be gold anymore, it will be black and blue and green. It makes me excited to see what all my pieces will look like in the future.
DA: That's so interesting. Did you decide to warn people that were buying your work?
EP: Yeah, so I try to tell them now. There was one person who wanted to buy work and when I told them, they didn't buy it. Someone has to accept that it’s your artwork, and I shouldn't change it for them.
DA: No, it's good to retain that integrity, and that can be so difficult if you need the money.
EP: True. I feel like people shouldn’t be shy about saying that because if you need to sell something, I don't think it's bad to change one aspect.
Red White Blue and Brown, 2020, Oil, Acrylic, Imitation Gold leaf, fabric and heat press print on canvas
190cm x 140cm
Photo courtesy of the artist
DA: Yeah, no, definitely. Could you speak a bit more about your painting process?
EP: I work in layers and I usually start with an acrylic background or wash or something. I get the feel for a piece either from a photo or from the idea I have so I can translate that with what colour I would use and then I put the gold leaf first and then paint on top with oil paint. It's tricky sometimes because you must figure out what parts you want to leave gold and what parts you don’t. I try to focus in on areas of the face that I want to be more realistic and just leave gaps in places because sometimes when you paint over gold leaf it becomes quite dull. I usually add the materials on after that.
DA: What are the kinds of materials that you add on?
EP: So like curtain material. It's a symbolic thing that my grandma and my mum always had these net curtains. It's something that's in most Caribbean households. It reminds me of family. So I would add fabric to the painting, or if it's relevant, I would add sheets and print on them. I also use heat transfer to print things onto the canvas, sometimes images like a part of a face, or words. I use it when I think it's relevant.
DA: Trust your gut! How do you feel your practice has developed since starting at the RCA a year ago?
EP: I actually don't think it's developed very much. I don't know whether that's because I'm not in the studios. I feel like when I was at Goldsmiths, I was more experimental with people around me doing different things. Because I've been at home, I've stuck to the same thing. Because of having solo shows and actually selling work it makes me feel like I should keep to this thing that people like, which is bad. At one stage I was even told to change things. I'm never doing that again. I went to the RCA because I wanted the chance to experiment more. My ideas are so much broader than what I paint on a 2D canvas.
Closeup of ‘Windows Of Emotion’, 2020, Oil, Acrylic, Imitation Gold leaf, heat press print and fabric on canvas
177cm x 227cm
Photo courtesy of the artist
DA: That makes sense if you haven’t been going into the studios and haven’t been getting that tutor time either. Have you been working with galleries since graduating from Goldsmiths? Or is it more recent thing?
EP: When I first graduated, I worked with a gallery. That was the first time I was introduced to selling work. But it really took off in 2020, despite the pandemic. I think it was having the opportunity to have a solo show, and then collectors collecting. I also won a competition where the prize was a solo show. The two shows weren’t supposed to be so close together but because of the pandemic it pushed them tighter. It was hell doing work for two shows that were basically back to back. Now I'm working with Gillian Jason Gallery and ADA Accra in Ghana. I'm enjoying working with them. They support me with everything, from financial stuff to taking work from my studio and moving it to storage. They've been so wonderful. I'm so lucky to have people that actually want to help.
DA: Amazing. It must be so confidence building in this early stage. How do you usually work and have you found that that's been affected by the pandemic?
EP: Last year from graduating Goldsmith, I did have a free studio in Camberwell for a while. I wasn't able to go there for four months, mainly because I have a health condition and I was scared. I used to walk there from here.
DA: How long did that take?
EP: It was nearly two hours. I would walk there, stay there and just see what I could paint for two or three days and then walk back home. I usually work very slowly. Mostly because of the thought that goes into a painting, not necessarily me making it. I like to take my time, sit with it if I can for a few months, and add stuff. I feel the best things come that way. But if I have to get something done fast, I can. I can either work really early in the morning or really late at night, which is kind of inconvenient. At lunch I'll eat, and I just sit there for ages, and I won't pick up the pace until 5pm.
Install shot of ‘Forgetting’ and ‘Brief Encounters’ in ‘The Face of Love’, V.O Curations Post Residency Solo Show
Marylebone, London, 2020
Photo courtesy of the artist
DA: That must be very inconvenient if the whole middle of your day is useless! *laughs*
EP: *laughs* I said to myself by October, please Emma, please do this properly so you can do it full time. I want to push myself to be completely self-reliant.
DA: I hope you can find a good routine. Whose work inspires you?
EP: A big inspiration is Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Her work is amazing. She came as a visiting tutor in my second year at Goldsmiths. She was really cool and really funny, and she did teach me little things. In my studio I used have a rug and a candle on my table. She came in and was like, you're gonna burn the place down! She recommended using glass as a palette as you can just wipe it clean. She also told me to, instead of using black oil paint, use a mixture of brown and blue. She was the first successful black female artist I ever saw. At uni I didn't have any tutors that looked like me. When I was younger when visiting galleries I always liked Caravaggio, because of the dark colours he used. His figures were white, so I had to adapt his techniques to black skin. I also like Jenny Saville. She does such big paintings and has such attention to detail. I think that's what made me use such massive canvases in the first place, actually. It's difficult when people ask me who inspires me, because I'm inspired by a lot of different things. Usually, it's more of what I read like philosophy, and I was very into english lit, religious studies and fantasy in school. I’m inspired by reading books about spirituality and consciousness.
DA: Are there any books you’d recommend?
EP: ‘Thinking Fast and Slow' was a really big book that I read, and 'The Power of Now’. There was one called 'The Celestine Prophecy', which I got into, which is about this guy who travelled to Peru in pursuit of this power that can be harnessed. The way they described it was like the air in between your hands and if you could focus your meditation close enough, you could see like these white lines.
The Cains, 2020, Oil, Acrylic, Imitation Gold leaf and heat press print on canvas
190cm x 140cm
Photo courtesy of the artist
DA: They sound really interesting. What projects are you working on at the moment?
EP: I've been working with ADA Accra, the gallery in Ghana, and I've been painting pictures about my personal and future experiences, and one of them includes using projection. It’s primed and ready, but I need to film. I've been working on establishing my relationship with my father's side of the family. I'm bringing in structural aspects of living in London and just seeing what I might come up with when I go there and the differences in how I feel. I’m showing a piece in the group exhibition ‘Mother of Mankind’ in Mayfair in July. It’ll be open until 31st August. It’s a crossover between me and my grandmother on my father's side, who I didn’t know. I wanted to ask her questions and I used print on the piece. I wrote down questions I would ask her if she was still alive. Things like, what did you do when you had a sad day? What did you do for fun? I wanted to highlight her clothing because she’s wearing this common Ghanian print with leaves. I will be going to Ghana after that exhibition for my solo show there. Everything is very exciting and I'm very happy and very lucky to be going because I've never been there before. I've never been outside Europe. I'm scared but very excited.
DA: Nice! What plans you have for future work after these projects are finished?
EP: I'm going to continue to finish the other pieces that I have in my studio. Projection is a big thing in my head that I really want to do. I really enjoyed the process of writing things out and printing them on the canvas with the piece my grandmother is in. That's the only way I could speak to someone who's related to me who I didn't know but I feel close to in a way.
DA: How nice to feel that connection through your work. I’m really excited to see what you make. Lot of irons in the fire. Thanks so much Emma it’s been lovely talking to you.
EP: Thank you.
