What inspires you?
I am inspired by the things I see around me. Sometimes by art and illustration but I strive to find inspiration in whatever I am surrounded by.
What is your medium of choice?
I work primarily in pen and ink and watercolor, though I also sometimes work digitally or with mixed media such as gold leaf.
What is the most important theme that your work revolves around?
I make art intended as both beautiful and appalling, sometimes sardonic, creating a realm neither ideal nor real, nevertheless laden with pathos and at the same time with absurdity. My work displays the human figure as an object that prompts us to rethink all pre-existing categories of beauty versus ugliness and comedy versus tragedy. Mine is not an art about identity or personal experience, but sets out to be both utterly universal and utterly unpretentious. These I understand as complementary qualities.
What is the concept behind the work you’re making during your residency?
I have been spending time with the Plumbing Museum collections, particularly the old Plumber’s Trade Journals. I have really enjoyed looking at the old illustrations in those magazines and I am taking inspiration from them for the work I’m doing during my residency.
How do you spend your time when not working in the studio?
I work in a coffee shop in Cambridge and like to read and travel when I can.
How can we find you on social media and the web?
My instagram is @cfeldmanemison and my website is www.chloefeldmanemison.com
