Emily Humphries

The Foundlings Hospital
2 Oil on canvas 45x30 approx

From an Australian perspective the Renaissance still seems to sit there ruling as the divine and defining characteristic of European culture.
Brunelleschi’s Ospedale degli Innocenti has always beguiled me. Here reason and imagination entwine creating a poetic and exquisitely balanced form.
The building embraces order and symmetry, man, reason and measured thought and inspires the feeling that everything is possible and that all is safe and well in the universe. It seems to me to make a temple of reason and order.
Confusing for a long time to white Australia. Our very rich and completely different Aboriginal family cracks open a timeless space. A liquid place in which spirits roam with beasts, form landscapes and fold like sand into the myths of man . Here man becomes the guardian of these ancient truths and customs. He does not govern or construct. Architecture is obsolete. The laws are primordial or more accurately, non linear.
In my exploration of the relationship between these two very differently-formed cultures it was a great joy to retrace Brunelleschi's beautifully harmonious work. To take his lovely little babies on their powdery cradle like discs and set them afloat on a sea of spawning sealife ; corrupted or free? Wedded by a chaos of untameable and natural force.

Born in London in 1965, Emily now lives and works in Melbourne, Australia. Between 1993-'96 Emily studied for her bachelor degree in fine arts at the Victorian College of the Arts, majoring in Printmaking. She has also studied film , language and art history both in Melbourne and abroad. Emily has preferred to remain independent as an artist, although recently she has become a member of the new European based art group AILAE. This group works to challenge orthodoxies on the role of Australian art in Europe. Emily is represented by Artegiro in Europe and the United Sates. Her works can be found in numerous collections around the world.

Group Exhibitions

1989 Gallery Huntly , Canberra. 1991 Sun storm Galleries, Darwin. 1993 Time Gallery Richmond. Exhibition. 1994 VCA Gallery Melbourne 1995 VCA Gallery Melbourne 1999 St. Privat des Pres, Dordogne France 2007 Monash, Prato 2008 Fondation des Sciences de l'homme, VIeme. Paris Group Exhibitions
1989      Gallery Huntly, Ruth Prowes, Canberra.
1991      Sun storm Galleries, Darwin.
1993      Time Gallery Richmond. (works on paper)
1993-94      VCA Gallery Melbourne
1999      Karen Peterson Galleries, Aubeterre, France
2006      Charles Smith Gallery Fitzroy (mixed media)
2007      Monash, Prato, Italy

Solo Exhibitions
1992    Anthea Hatfield Residence. South Yarra.
1994   “Worlds Remembered Worlds Lost”, Stuart Gerstman Galleries Melbourne.
1995   “Hidden meanings”, Avoca st. South Yarra , Melbourne.
1997   “World beyond reason” Avoca st. South Yarra , Melbourne.
1999    Karen Peterson Galleries, Aubeterre sur Dronne, France
2001    Rosalind Hollinrake Residence, South Yarra
2002    Albert Park Gallery, Albert Park
2008   "Wheels of Life, States of being" Dantes, Fitzroy, Melbourne

Prizes and Awards
National Galleries Trustees Award.

Represented in Europe by Artegiro Fine Art Representation www.artegiro.com

Contacts
emilyhumphries@lycos.com
www.freewebs.com/emilyhumphries

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