Surfacing

Artist Statement

Surfacing implies the breaking of tension- the act of coming up for air, when something hidden comes to light, a transitional moment when perceptions and positions change. The works in this exhibition explore these tensions in a way that reflects the intensity that is increasingly present in our world. Collectively they find linkages in the meshwork of the everyday; bridging between the psychological and the physical, the material and immaterial, and the digital and analog to create spaces that simultaneously feel familiar and unknown. These works respond to the constant shifting and fluctuating nature of reality and perception, incorporating a sense of slipping, colliding, dissolving, and emerging into their compositional framework.

I build on the history of painting as a tool to reflect and translate aspects of the world, while also extending the definition of what it can be. Collaged photographic imagery weaves into the language of abstract painting, bringing together moments of clarity and ambiguity that both articulate, disrupt, and complicate a singular understanding of the work, akin to our own perceptions of the world. These two mediums have a very rich and separate history, both alluding to different levels of “truth” in their representation of reality. In bringing them together, I aim to create a pictorial space that allows the viewer to question the nature of what they’re seeing, and to dwell in the ambiguity and uncertainty that lies on the surface and within our own minds. These works ultimately take a look at how we navigate the familiar, respond to the unknown, as well as how these feelings speak more broadly about the complexity of what it means to be human.

Emily Somoskey

Artist Bio

Emily Somoskey is a 2-D mixed media artist and painter from Northeast Ohio. She is currently living in Walla Walla, WA where she is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art at Whitman College. She holds a MFA in Studio Art from Michigan State University (2020) and a BA in Art Education/Painting from The University of Akron in Akron, OH (2013).

Using paint, collage, and mixed-media, Emily’s current work explores the ways we simultaneously experience physical and mental space. On a material level, her work is largely built through layering paint and various forms of photographic imagery. These disparate mediums collectively create a complex and nuanced language that weave together moments of clarity and ambiguity. Through her work she references the shifting and overlapping nature of our experience with the sensate and psychological realms; giving form to the complexity, instability, and enigmatic nature of our lived experiences.

Visit her website: https://www.emilysomoskey.com/