Emma Coyle has been working in art for nearly 20 years and has been based in London since 2006. She has exhibited in numerous galleries and art fairs throughout the city, including a solo show in Mayfair and exhibiting in the Prestigious Mall Galleries. Coyle's current work embodies 1st generation American Pop Art qualities of the 1950's while focusing on contemporary imagery. Her focus is to produce accomplished Pop Art paintings of a Fine Art standard within the process and execution of ideas.
1) Which art movement do you consider most influential on your practice?
I have an interest in many art movements and periods but American Pop Art from the mid-1950's is the movement most relatable to my current work.
2) Where do you go and when to make your best art?
I have a studio in my apartment. I have never felt the need to work outside of my home or around another artist. I am a very private artist and enjoy working in a quiet space.
3) How do you describe your 'creative process'?
I think creative process changes through the years depending on what an artist is working on. For the past 6 years whether I am working on a series or not, I constantly collect hard copy print magazines. I collect a stack over two or three years then go through pages ripping out images which I find interesting. I then analyse the images and take a few months to make a minimal drawing of each image. I then take the images and make a smaller selection of the drawings and colour each image before furthering them into paintings. Along with line work, colour is a very important to my work. I use a very small number of tubs to mix my paint in for each series and use the leftover paint from the previous series as a starting point for mixing the colours. One of the most important times while painting on canvas is the choosing off which lines to keep from the drawings. I try to make the images as strong as possible with the most minimal of line.
4) Which artist, living or deceased, is the greatest inspiration to you?
I like a lot of Norwegian and Finnish 19th and 20th-century artists but again I would have to go back to American Pop and pick the great Mel Ramos. He is a very down to earth man who has been one of the most important Pop artists without being over commercialised. He has worked hard throughout his life and is so well respected internationally. It is great to correspond with an artist of his quality who managed not to become a household name and who's main interest is to produce a high standard of art.
5) If you weren't an artist, what would you do?
I have no idea, I can't think of anything that would be worthwhile doing. I have a strong interest in palaeontology but even then I can't image studying it or working in it on a full-time basis.
6) What do you listen to for inspiration?
I have a huge selection of hundreds of cd's, tapes and records. I've been listening to Bowie for over 20 years and I grew up in the grunge era. At the moment I'm listening to a mix of Angelo Badalamenti, The Kelley Deal 6000, REM and Oscar Peterson.
7) If you could own one artwork, and money was no object, which piece would you acquire?
It would have to be Michael Heizer's 'City'. Who wouldn't want that work? It stands for everything that art should be about, pure devotion to making art.
8) If your dream museum or collection owner came calling, which would it be?
I could name all the top art museums around the world but I would have to pick Larry Gagosian, I've been following his London galleries for a number of years and I learn a lot from the quarterly magazine.
9) What is your key piece of advice for artists embarking on a fine art or creative degree today?
Take the first 10years to engross yourself in making art, reading art history and going to exhibitions.
10) What is your favourite book of all time (fiction or non-fiction)?
Calvin Tomkins Post- to neo-: the art world of the 1980s. I don't think there is a greater art writer than Tomkins.
11) If you could hang or place your artwork in one non-traditional art setting, where would that be?
I don't think I could pick a place I'm very much into traditional settings. I'd hate to think of one of my paintings hanging somewhere getting spoiled in a non-traditional setting, it's just not me.
12) What was the biggest lesson your university course or time studying taught you?
Be independent,
Make money from art, not art to make money.
13) And finally, if we were to fast forward 10 years, where would we find you?
I think like most artists we would hate to know where would be in ten years time, but definitely still making art. I'm in my eleventh year in London and I would love another ten.
