Artist Statement

I am Emily Joyner, an LGBTQ+ visual artist and I received my BA in Fine Art with Art History at Aberystwyth University in 2023.

As an artist I fluctuate between mediums; but primarily use Acrylic Paint. I paint across genres, and find having a concept integral to each series I work on.

I have always been a ‘doodler’, and this extends to my artistic practice. Much of my studio and creative time boils down to drawing. Whether au plein air, in the studio, or from references, I find the glide of graphite on paper as freeing as paint on board. Sketching, illustrating, and researching are crucial to my process, and the drawings sometimes equivalent to their painted counterparts. I always draw the subject before approaching it in painting, this allows me to map out the composition, whilst also using a drawing style that feels freeing when translating the three-dimensional image onto paper.

My identity underlies my experience and outlook into the art world, shaping my influences and experiences. Contemporary photographer Tim Walker caught my interest in VOGUE, with his distorted views, bright colours, and eccentric representations, he often disregards gender roles and treats all subjects equally in his lens. Both photography and painters inspire my artistic practice, I am not restricted by one medium when looking for influences. I am a non-traditional figurative oil-painter. To me, traditionalist portraiture feels like a black hole, and I make my escape through imaginative conceptions. Surrealism and Sigmund Freud sparked my interest into the psychoanalysis of dreams.

I am often experimenting in my work, trying acrylics and diving into Landscape painting. I evade conventionality, with Semi-Abstract urban views, reduced forms in Fauvist inspired colours; I choose what feels right opposed to authenticity. One artist that inspires me is Kim Dorland, a contemporary, Canadian, landscape painter. He is expressive in his mark making, using saturated palettes and juxtapositions of colour to create his haunting and atmospheric landscapes. My landscapes are less concept based than my portraiture, and are an outlet for my emotions, entrenched within my personal experiences. Colour is so remarkably positive to me, and I try to carve an optimistic reflection on each period of my livelihood I interpret.